Ranji Trophy: Vidarbha 4 wickets away from final spot

PTI

Nagpur, March 5

Vidarbha took command of their Ranji Trophy semifinal against Madhya Pradesh with the key wicket of Yash Dubey late on Day 4 as they inched closer to a thrilling victory here today.

Heading into the final day tomorrow, hosts Vidarbha are a mere four wickets away from setting up a summit clash with Mumbai, while MP, who still need 93 runs to win, will hope their tailenders can produce an inspired fightback.

The game tilted in favour of hosts Vidarbha in the penultimate over of the day when Aditya Sarwate (2/51) had Dubey caught by Aman Mokhade, dealing a body blow to MP’s hopes of making their second

final in three years.

Chasing 321 to win, MP reached 228/6 at stumps with their last recognised batter Saransh Jain (16 not out) joined by Kumar Kartikeya at the crease and requiring a huge effort with the bat.

To his credit, Dubey battled hard with a fine knock even as wickets kept tumbling at the other end. The right-handed batter showed grit and composure in a tough chase, consuming 212 balls to get his 94 runs with 10 fours.

Dubey forged a crucial 106-run stand for the second wicket with Harsh Gawali (67 from 80 balls), but once the pair was separated, Vidarbha kept making regular inroads to leave MP in trouble.

MP lost the first-innings’ centurion Himanshu Mantri for a mere eight in the second essay, but it was the failure of their middle-order trio of Sagar Solanki (12), Shubham Sharma (6) and Venkatesh Iyer (19) which hurt the visitors the most.

Vidarbha’s Akshay Wakhare accounted for the three batters to bring his side back into the contest, while Sarwate’s late strike to dismiss the dangerous Dubey put the two-time winners in the pole position.

Brief scores: Vidarbha: 170 & 402 in 101.3 overs (Rathod 141, Wadkar 77, Mokhade 59; Anubhav 5/92) vs MP: 252 & 228/6 in 71 overs (Dubey 94, Gawali 67; Wakhare 3/38, Sarwate 2/51).

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