Rathod, Nalkande Put Vidarbha On Cusp Of Victory

Nagpur: After two days of catch-up act following their first innings meltdown, Vidarbha finally tightened the noose around Baroda in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘A' clash on Tuesday. Yash Rathod and Darshan Nalkande put Vidarbha on cusp of victory at the Jamtha Stadium.Rathod posted 91 (142b;7x4) on a pitch where other batters are finding it difficult to survive to guide Vidarbha to 272 in their second innings and set a 276-run target for Baroda. Nalkande then knocked the rivals half-dead with his four-wicket burst. By the end of Day 3, Baroda was left gasping at 73 for 5 in 32 overs. The start of the day saw Vidarbha's overnight unbeaten batters Rathod and R Samarth burying the demons of the pitch with clinical batting. Rathod, fresh from his unbeaten 40 in the first innings, didn't take long to gauge the unpredictability of the 22-yard strip. By the first drinks break of the day, Vidarbha reached 178 for 3 in 62 overs. The host scored 52 runs in 22 overs of the morning session without losing a wicket. The passage of play saw Rathod reach fifty with a boundary, his seventh of the inning.Samarth enacted a perfect supporting role, playing a patient knock. With lunchtime approaching, it looked like the first wicket-less session of the match was in the offing. But that was not to be as Samarth (45;129b;1x4) was trapped lbw by Raj Limbani. The second session saw Rathod miss out on what would have been his third century of this Ranji season as he fell to left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt with Vidarbha at 243 for 5 in 86 overs. Rathod's dismissal triggered a collapse as Vidarbha lost the last five wickets for 29 runs to end on 272. Baroda skipper Atith Sheth picked up a five-for. Baroda's hopes of chasing 276 for an improbable win were crushed by Nalkande's early blows. The medium pacer trapped opener Shivalisk Sharma lbw for duck as Baroda lost the first wicket in the second over. Nalkande took a wicket each in his next two overs to reduce Baroda to 3 for 7 by the sixth over. Nalkande first induced an edge off Shashwat Rawat (0;2b) which was pouched by Aman Mokhade at point. In his next over, Nalkande cleaned up opener Jyotsnil Singh (1;13b). The medium pacer trapped Vishnu Solanki in the sixth over to reduce Baroda to 17 for 4. By the time Nalkande finished off his first spell, which produced an incredible numbers of 6-3-7-4, Baroda was all but out of the contest. Left-arm spinner Parth Rekhade removed Mitesh Patel (16;44b;2x4) late in the day to put the visitors further on backfoot. By the time umpires took off the bails, Baroda were on 73 for 5 in 32 overs with Sukirt Pandey (35;91b;4x4) and Ninad Rathva (10;31b) delaying the inevitable. BRIEF SCORES Vidarbha: 169 all out in 58 overs & (overnight 126 for 3) 272 all out in 98.2 overs (Yash Rathod 91, Dhruv Shorey 61, R Samarth 45, Atharva Taide 40; Atit Sheth 5-47, Bhargav Bhatt 2-65, Raj Limbani 1-45, Ninad Rathva 1-42, Mahesh Pithiya 1-61) lead Baroda: 166 all out in 72.2 overs & 73 for 5 in 32 overs (Sukirt Pandey batting 35, Ninad Rathva batting 10; Darshan Nalkande 4-7, Parth Rekhade 1-19) by 202 runs.

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