Pacers propel Vidarbha into QF

Nagpur, Oct 30

Riding on the disciplined bowling of Vidarbha pacers particularly Umesh Yadav and Yash Thakur, Vidarbha defeated Chhattisgarh by five wickets to enter the quarterfinal in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy match at Jadavpur University Campus in Kolkata on Sunday.

Vidarbha will take on Delhi in the quarterfinal on Tuesday. Vidarbha won the toss and elected to field first. Their decision proved correct as Chhattisgarh were restricted to 111 for nine in 20 overs. A Herwadkar (19, 20b, 3x4) and Amandeep Khare (25, 24b, 1x4, 2x6) gave a good start to Chhatisgarh by making 50 run partnership for first wicket. When they were going solid, left-arm spinner Aditya Sarvate dismissed Herwadkar and broke the partnership. In the very next over Umesh Yadav clean-bowled Khare on the same score. Then Chhattisgarh lost their wicket at regular intervals. Only captain Harpreet Singh Bhatia (27, 24b, 3x4 ) showed some resistance after the departure of both openers. But then he gave an edge to wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma off Yadav with 73 runs on board.

For Vidarbha, Umesh Yadav (3 for 27) was the main wicket-taker. Yash Thakur too bowled well and captured 2 for 23. Akshay Karnewar and Aditya Sarvate were chipped in with one each.

In reply, after early hiccups, Vidarbha achieved the target in 18.4 overs losing five wickets. Thanks to Sanjay Raaswamy who played first match of the season and scored 52-ball 63 hitting seven boundaries and three sixes after the failure of opener Atharva taide (4), Apoorv Wankhade (6) and Sourabh Dubey (6) . Jitesh Sharma remained not out on 14 hitting four boundaries.

For Chhattisgarh, Ravi Kiran, Sumit Ruikar and Ajay Mandal got one wicket each.

Brief scores

Chhattisgarh: 112 for 5 in 18.4 overs (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 27, Amandeep Khare 25, A Herwadkar 19, Umesh Yadav 3 for 27, Yash Thakur 2 for 23)

Vidarbha: 112 for 5 in 18.4 overs (Sanjay Ramaswamy 63, Jitesh Sharma 14 not out, Ravi Kiran, Sumit Ruikar and Ajay Mandal one wicket each).

Result: Vidarbha won by five wickets