Vidarbha clinch low scoring tie

NAGPUR: Bowlers, normally, don't have much say in Twenty20 but Vidarbha-Rajasthan tie was different. The pacers of both sides enjoyed bowling on VCA Civil Lines Stadium track as Vidarbha successfully defended the total of 113. The victory looked unlikely at the half way stage when Vidarbha batsmen rendered yet another poor performance. However, bowlers, led by Amol Jungade-who took three wickets in his first over-put up a spirited performance to restrict Rajasthan to 103-9 in 20 overs as Vidarbha recorded a fighting 10-run win in the Central Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy on Sunday.
The VCA wicket, which hardly offered anything to pacers during the Ranji Trophy, suddenly looked different. Good cover of grass and rains for the past two days prompted Rajasthan to put Vidarbha in. Rajasthan new ball pair of Aniket Choudhay (4-0-19-3) and Rituraj Singh (4-0-24-1) bowled in good channels and reaped the rewards. Opener Anup Fulper, experienced Faiz Fazal and skipper Shalabh Shrivastava were back in the hut inside first four overs. Akshay Kolhar continued with his good form and batted brilliantly for his 34 (25b, 5x4). He was developing a useful partnership with comeback man Ravi Jangid but the latter couldn't do much. When Kolhar offered a simple return catch to Rajasthan skipper Ashok Maneria, Vidarbha innings looked in doldrums. Menaria showed his utility with the ball to chip in with important wickets of Urvesh Patel (19) and Apoorv Wankhede (8). Amol Ubarhande (15*) helped Vidarbha get past 100-run mark.
After batting failure, Vidarbha needed yet another spirited effort from their bowlers and they didn't disappoint. Jungade sent back openers Ankit Lamba and Sourabh Chouhan and Menaria in space of six balls. Suddenly, the small crowd gathered at the stadium came alive. If that wasn't enough, Faiz's brilliant work on the field saw the downfall of dangerous Puneet Yadav, who was fresh from his scintillating hundred in the last match of Vijay Hazare One-dayers against Railways. Dishant Yagnik and Robin Bisht tried to stem the rot but the latter succumbed to brilliant glove work by Ubarhande. Rajasthan kept losing wickets as Madhur Khatri ran out partners.
In the end, they couldn't cope up with climbing run rate. There were only four boundaries in the Rajasthan innings and that too came after 10th over. Shreekant Wagh (4-0-15-1) bowled two tight death overs to seal the fate.
BRIEF SCORES
Vidarbha 113-9 in 20 overs (Akshay Kolhar 34, Urvesh Patel 19, Amol Ubarhande 15*; Aniket Choudhary 3-19, Ashok Menaria 3-19) bt Rajasthan 103-9 in 20 overs (Dishant Yagnik 26, Madhur Khatri 15*; Amol Jungade 3-12, Faiz Fazal 2-25; Shreekant Wagh, Ravi Thakur, Ravi Jangid one wicket each) by 10 runs.