Faiz, Wadkar hit centuries as Vidarbha on verge of victory

In response to Vidarbha's first innings total of 213, Railways were all out for 161. Vidarbha declared their second innings on 420 for eight and put on huge victory target of 472 before Railways. While chasing the target, Railways have already lost three wickets for just 47 runs. Thus with one day to go Vidarbha were just seven wickets away from recording victory.

The day belonged to skipper Faiz Fazal and his deputy Akshay Wadkar who hit fabulous centuries. While Faiz hit 103 in 138 balls with the help of 11 boundaries and one six, Wakdar scored 130 unbeaten in 167 balls hitting 19 boundaries.

In the process, Faiz has become second Vidarbha batsman who scored centuries in both innings of Ranji Trophy. Earlier in 2000-2001 Amit Deshapade scored two centuries (128 and 156 *) against Rajasthan.

Resuming at overnight score of 82, Faiz completed his 24th First Class Century and showed his class. After crossing the three digit mark, he was dismissed by Karn Sharm with 191 runs on board. Ganesh Satish contributed 29 before Akshay Pandey removed him. Apoorv Wankhade once again returned to the pavilion on duck and that too in a similar fashion. He was trapped leg before by Adarsh Singh. Then it was all Wadkar show. He got good support from Aditya Sarwate who scored 64 in 117 balls hitting nine boundaries. Frustrating the Railway bowlers, both made 139 run partnership for sixth wicket. In the process, Wadkar completed his eighth First Class century. Finally, Yuvraj Singh clan bowled Sarwate and broke the partnership.

In their second innings, Railways had a poor start as they lost three wickets for 47. Aditya Thakre gave the breakthrough to Vidarbha by removing opener Shivam Chaudhary (7) with 18 runs on board. Another pacer Rajneesh Gurbani dismissed Pratham Singh (12) who was also caught by Akshay Wadkar. Sarwate trapped Arindam Ghosh on a duck in front of stumps. When the third-day play stopped, Vivek Singh was plying on 18 in the company of Mohammad Saif (5).