Gurbani on song after Vidarbha rack up record 800 on Day 4

Nagpur, March 17

Vidarbha ended up with a record 800/7 before pacer Rajneesh Gurbani tore through the Rest of India batting to put the reigning Ranji champions on the cusp of securing the Irani Cup.

Vidarbha, who began Day 4 at 702/5, declared at 800/7 after Apoorv Wankhade (157*) scored his second first-class hundred. Vidarbha’s mammoth score is the highest total in the Irani Cup’s history.

Gurbani (4/46), who is only the second bowler to take a hat-trick in a Ranji Trophy final, then had RoI reeling at 6/98 in 28 overs before they recovered to 236/6 at the close of play.

Hanuma Vihari (81*) and Jayant Yadav (62*) saved the blushes for RoI with an unbeaten 138-run stand for the seventh wicket.

It is unlikely that Vidarbha would be able to bowl out RoI twice on Day 5 but a very likely first-innings lead will be enough to lift the trophy.

Gurbani had Ravikumar Samarth (0) caught before he removed RoI captain Karun Nair (21). Umesh Yadav, at the other end, dismissed the in-form Mayank Agarwal (11). 

Besides Vihari and Jayant Yadav’s face-saving partnership, opener Prithvi Shaw scored 51 off 64 balls before falling to Aditya Thakare.

Brief scores: Vidarbha: 800/7 decl (Wasim Jaffer 286, Apoorv Wankhade 157*, Ganesh Satish 120; Siddarth Kaul 2/91, Mayank Agarwal 1/21, Hanuma Vihari 1/32); Rest of India: 236/6 (Hanuma Vihari 81*, Jayant Yadav 62*; Rajneesh Gurbani 4/46). — PTI