Vidarbha cruise past Chandigarh, move to second spot

Nagpur: Vidarbha went about their task with clarity and control, cruising past Chandigarh in a result that reflected their awareness of what was at stake. Against the bottom-placed side, points and net run-rate were crucial, and Vidarbha managed both to climb to second place in Group B of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on Wednesday.After opting to bowl, Vidarbha struck early and never allowed Chandigarh to recover. Darshan Nalkande removed Manan Vohra off the first ball of the match, while Nachiket Bhute compounded the visitors' troubles by dismissing Arjun Azad for a golden duck in the next over. Bhute then had Tushar Joshi edging his first delivery as well. Seven balls, three wickets, four runs — Chandigarh were staring into a void at 4 for 3.Nikhil Thakur (17 off 28 balls) and Arslan Khan tried to steady the innings with a 39-run stand, but the partnership was short-lived. Both batters fell within the space of two overs, and Chandigarh continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.Nalkande cleaned up the tail to finish with figures of 4 for 33 in 6.1 overs, while Bhute and Dipesh Parwani claimed two wickets apiece as Chandigarh were bowled out for 113 in 29.1 overs.The chase, though, had a momentary hiccup. Aman Mokhade, the tournament's leading run-scorer till Tuesday, departed early, offering Chandigarh a fleeting opening. It was promptly shut by Atharva Taide (43*; 68b, 4x5) and Dhruv Shorey (43; 43b, 7x4) who added 66 runs for the second wicket. The pair batted with assurance as Vidarbha reached the target in 22.3 overs with eight wickets to spare.Vidarbha will face a tougher challenge when they take on Baroda on Saturday.Brief scores: Chandigarh 113 all out in 29.1 overs (Sanyam Saini 36, Arslan Khan 27; Darshan Nalkande 4-33, Nachiket Bhute 2-18) lost to Vidarbha 114/2 in 22.3 overs (Atharva Taide 43*, Dhruv Shorey 43; Sandeep Sharma 1-16) by eight wickets.