Vidarbha earn three points in drawn game

Nagpur, Feb27

By the virtue of first innings lead Vidarbha earned three points from their drawn Elite Group G Ranji Trophy game against Maharashtra at Sultanpur here on Sunday,

In their first innings Vidarbha had posted a huge total of 570/5. Then left-arm spinner Aditya Sarvate spun his web around the Maharashtra batters to bundle them out for 328 in their first innings. Thus Vidarbha managed to to take the first innings lead.

Asked to follow on, Maharashtra was reduced to 69/4, when both the sides settled for a draw.

To stay in contention Vidarbha needed three points to stay in contention for the knockouts. Now after this desired result, Vidarbha need an outright win against Assam in their last league game.

Earlier resuming at overnight score of 273/6 Maharashtra had a mountain to climb, with Azim Kazi (14) and Satyajeet Bachhav (36 not out) holding fort.

The 36-year-old seasoned off-spinner Akshay Wakhare trapped Azim Kazi in front of the wicket as Maharashtra lost their seventh wicket for 278 as they were staring at conceding a first innings lead.

Vidarbha bowlers then ran through the tail and bundled out their arch-rivals for 328 after which they enforced a follow on.

For Vidarbha, Sarvate (6/79) was the pick of the bowlers and was ably supported by Lalit Yadav (1/56), Wakhare (2/104), and Akshay Karnewar (1/45) in the first innings.

In the second innings, it was again Sarvate (1/27) removing opener Yash Nahar (1) and IPL specialist Rahul Tripathi's woes with the willow also continued as he was dismissed for a zero.

Maharashtra was reeling at 7/2. They also lost inform opener Pawan Shah (26) and Azim Kazi (33) cheaply, as Vidarbha bowlers wreaked havoc. But after Kazi fell, both sides decided to settle for a draw.

Brief Scores: Vidarbha 570/5 declared (Ganesh Satish 275, Akshay Wadkar 146 not out, Mukesh Choudhary 3/103, Satyajeet Bachhav 2/134) versus Maharashtra 328 (Naushad Shaikh 103, Ankit Bawane 92, Aditya Sarvate 6/79, Akshay Wakhare 2/104) and 69/4 (Azim Kazi 33; Akshay Wakhare 2/23). Match drawn. Vidarbha earned the first innings lead.