INDORE: As night watchman
Akshay Wakhare presented the straight bat to left-arm seamer
Kulwant Khejroliya's in coming delivery, Vidarbha dressing room cheered in unison. Khojeroliya tested Wakhare outside the off stump; gave him the chin music and bowled wicket to wicket. However, Wakhare did well to survive the tensed last over.
Khejroliya had picked the wicket of Apoorv Wankhade with a lovely outgoing delivery to break the 73-run fourth wicket stand. They would have been happier with 206-3 than 206-4 now. Vidarbha are still 89 runs behind. There are still three days to go and a small innings lead won't matter much. It's a question how far Vidarbha can go as they are going to bat last. Fortunately,
Wasim Jaffer is still batting and looks in imperious touch but he will require more support. If Vidarbha need to have substantial lead, Jaffer's presence is must.
"This is just a kind of wicket that suits Wasim's batting. This is more like a Mumbai wicket. He has grown up batting on red soil wickets. Wasim is set and he normally capitalizes on his starts. Vidarbha would like to get as much as possible. However, a 100-run lead will be good. This wicket will still be good to bat on in the next two days. The weather is cool so it won't deteriorate too much. Vidarbha just need to keep building the partnerships," Madhya Pradesh coach
Harvinder Singh Sodhi
, who watched the match whole day, told TOI.
Openers Faiz Fazal (67, 101b, 10x4) and
Sanjay Ramaswamy (31, 92b, 5x4) again provided a solid 96-run partnership, just a kind of start Vidarbha needed in a pressure game like final. However, both got out to casual strokes.
Ganesh Satish was unlucky to be given out as the ball struck too high on his pads. From 96-0, Vidarbha were reduced to 133-3. Apoorv Wankhade would have been better of leaving the delivery, which was going away from him, than to poke it. His wicket has given a new lease of life to Delhi.
It's not the first time Vidarbha middle order has wasted the bright start given by Faiz Fazal and Sanjay Ramaswamy. They did it against Bengal when Faiz and Sanjay created the new Vidarbha opening record of 259. The next four wickets managed 82. They did it again Himachal when Faiz-Sanjay broke that record with 264-run association. From 381-2, Vidarbha slide to 456 all out. Even against an average side like Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha middle order crumbled. They were comfortably placed at 226-2 before losing next four wickets for 83 runs.
Except for the Goa game, Vidarbha middle order hasn't fired collectively, especially in the first innings. Vidarbha batting struggled in the quarterfinal against Kerala. They hardly looked comfortable against a well-balanced Karnataka attack. They had the chance to make amends in the final. The conditions at Holkar stadium were excellent for batting but they again wasted the opportunity.
Madhya Pradesh skipper
Devendra Bundela
still feels Vidarbha have an upper hand. "I still feel it's 60-40 in favour of Vidarbha with Wasim at the crease. He is a big match player. See, how he is batting. He will provide calming influence to others. The wicket will remain good for batting tomorrow as well. Vidarbha need to see off first hour on Sunday. The first session will decide which way this match will go," Bundela said.
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