NAGPUR: The Jamtha wicket had no demons. It was still very good to bat on even after three days of wear and tear. Had Vidarbha lower middle-order applied themselves and stayed with allrounder
Karn Sharma (52 not out, 7x4, 2x6), they would have crossed Chhattisgarh's 489.
But that was not to be as Karn watched two talented batsmen - Apoorv Wankhade and Akshay Karnewar - playing casual shots in crunch situation at the other end. First, it was Apoorv Wankhade, who was batting beautifully till he chased a wide one. Then, Akshay Karnewar tried to hit another maximum to left-arm spinner
Sumit Ruikar
only to see his stumps shattered. Vidarbha could not get past Chhattisgarh's total of 489 because of these two casual dismissals and were bowled out for 435, falling short by 55 runs in their
Ranji Trophy Group 'D' match on Friday.
Vidarbha bowlers tried hard in the second session to make the match interesting. They picked up four quick wickets but experienced Jatin Saxena held firm for the second time in the match and scored a responsible 75 (110b, 11x4). His knock took the game out of Vidarbha's reach. After a while, both teams were waiting for him to reach the three-figure mark to end the day. However, he got out to part timer R Sanjay and both teams decided to call off.
Earlier, Wankhade and Karn started off confidently in the morning session. Wankhade looked in good touch before he tried an expansive drive against Vishal Kishwah, only to edge it to Chhattisgarh skipper Mohd Kaif at the first slip. Karnewar also played some bold shots and looked a man in hurry. Kaif enticed the left-hander by continuing with the left-arm spin of Ruikar. The ploy worked as Ruikar cleaned up Karnewar, who tried one shot too many. Sahil Gupta dropped a simple chance to deny Ruikar his third five-wicket haul of the season. Saxena, then took just four balls to finish off the Vidarbha innings.
SCOREBOARDChhattisgarh (1st Innings): 489;
Vidarbha (1st Innings, overnight 331-6): Apoorv Wankhade c Kaif b Kushwah 42, Karn Sharma not out 52, Akshay Karnewar b Ruikar 26,
Umesh Yadav st Singh b Ruikar 0,
Lalit Yadav
b Jatin Saxena 2;
Extras: (b 9, lb 12, nb 16) 37;
Total: (All out, 124.4 overs) 435;
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-112, 3-226, 4-252, 5-296, 6-309, 7-371, 8-410, 9-410.
Bowling: Pankaj Rao 30-10-67-0, Prateek Raj Sinha 25-6-90-2, Sahil Gupta 1-1-0-0, Vishal Kushwah 23-3-102-2,
Abhimanyu Chauhan 10-4-23-0, Sumit Ruikar 27-6-98-4, Jatin Saxena 8.4-2-34-2.
Chhattisgarh (2nd Innings): Abhimanyu Chauhan b U Yadav 5, Sahil Gupta c J Sharma b Yadav 13, Amandeep Khare c Jaffer b Karnewar 10, Mohd Kaif c Fazal b Karnewar 27, Manoj Singh lbw b Karnewar 0, Jatin Saxena c J Sharma b Sanjay 75, Ashutosh Singh b Yadav 13, Sumit Ruikar b K Sharma 2, Vishal Kushwah c Jaffer b K Sharma 26, Prateek Raj Sinha not out 10;
Extras: (b 9, lb 5) 14;
Total: (9 wickets, 52 overs) 195;
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-29, 3-40, 4-48, 5-97, 6-122, 7-131, 8-180, 9-195;
Bowling: Karn Sharma 15-6-50-2, Umesh Yadav 12-0-50-3, Lalit Yadav 6-0-23-0, Akshay Karnewar 17-3-43-3,
Faiz Fazal 1-0-10-0, R Sanjay 1-0-5-1.
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