Vidarbha’s Jitesh, Sanjay and Wankhade Slam Fifties in win over Jharkhand

NAGPUR: After setting up a 301-run target and reducing the opponent to 208 for 7 in the 42nd over,

Vidarbha

would have hoped for a convincing victory margin. However, Jharkhand’s eight-wicket pair of Vikash Singh (59, 37b, 5x4, 4x6) and Shahbaz Nadeem had other ideas.


When the duo joined hand Jharkhand needed 93 in 50 balls and the match was firmly in Vidarbha’s grip. The duo put up a spirited effort and belted all the bowlers, including their premier pacer Umesh Yadav — who conceded 39 in his last four overs.

Despite their fighting show, Jharkhand fell short by eight runs as Vidarbha won their opening match of

Vijay Hazare One-day Trophy match

by seven runs at AOC Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad on Monday.

Earlier, Jharkhand did well in the death overs to restrict Vidarbha to 300 in 49 overs. At one stage Faiz Fazal & Co. were eying 330-run mark. Medium Pacer Rahul Shukla’s four-wicket burst put brakes on Vidarbha’s momentum after they were looking to launch the attack.

Skipper Faiz won the toss and elected to bat in decent batting conditions. Though, Faiz got out early, Jitesh and debutant Sanjay Ramaswamy batted fluently to thwart Jharkhand bowlers.

They batted sensibly and hardly missed any scoring opportunities. They played some lovely shots off Jharkhand pacers Varun Aaron, Vikash Singh and Shukla.

Spinners Shahbaz Nadeem and Atul Surwar not only bowled tidily but also picked up crucial wickets in the middle overs. Nadeem got the wickets of Jitesh and allrounder Ravi Jangid, while Surwar accounted for key players Sanjay and Ganesh Satish.

Apoorv Wankhade (51, 34b, 6x4, 1x6) again held the lower middle order well in company Karn Sharma (22, 19b, 1x4, 1x6) and added 49 in just 34 balls before Shukla struck twice each in his eighth and ninth over. He got wickets of Sharma, Yadav, Rajneesh Gurbani and Akshay Wakhare as Vidarbha failed to utilize their full quota.

Yadav gave Vidarbha a perfect start trapping debutant Nazim Siddiqui for duck on the first ball of Jharkhand innings. Virat Singh played some attractive shots but couldn’t last long.

The pair of skipper Ishan Kishan (40;43b;5x4;2x6) and Saurabh Tiwary (65;77b;7x4) then batted positively and added 54 for the third wicket in quick time. Thakur, however, cleaned up Kishan.

Tiwary had another good stand of 72 for the fourth wicket with Deobrat (60, 76b, 5x4, 2x6). Tiwary got out while trying to catch the climbing run rate and Jharkhand lost the way after that.

Yadav, Gurbani and Thakur chipped in wickets to reduce Jharkhand to 208-7 before the Vikash and Nadeem used the long handle to great effect and nearly pulled off a dramatic win. Jharkhand required 20 off the last over but Gurbani did well despite going for two boundaries.

SCOREBOARD

Vidarbha: Faiz Fazal c Tiwary b Vikash 9, Jitesh Sharma c Kishan b Nadeem 79, Sanjay Ramaswamy c Shukla b Surwar 77, Ganesh Satish c Kishan b Surwar 18, Ravi Jangid c Surwar b Nadeem 25, Apoorv Wankhade c Siddiqui b Vikash 51, Karn Sharma c Deobrat b Shukla 22, Umesh Yadav b Shukla 0, Rajneesh Gurbani c Tiwary b Shukla 1, Akshay Wakhare c Aaron b Shukla 2, Yash Thakur not out 1;

Extras: (lb 4, w 11) 15;

Total: (all out, 49 overs) 300;

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-139, 3-177, 4-194, 5-231, 6-280, 7-287, 8-297, 9-298;

Bowling: Varun Aaron 9-0-41-0, Vikash Singh 9-0-78-2, Rahul Shukla 9-0-52-4, Shahbaz Nadeem 10-1-53-2, Atul Surwar 9-0-52-2, Virat Singh 3-0-20-0;

Jharkhand: Nazim Siddiqui lbw b Yadav 0, Ishan Kishan b Thakur 40, Virat Singh c Thakur b Gurbani 12, Saurabh Tiwary c Thakur b Karn Sharma 65, Kumar Deobrat c Wankhade b Yadav 60, Atul Surwar b Thakur 19, Sumit Kumar c Wakhare b Gurbani 1, Vikash Singh not out 59, Shahbaz Nadeem not out 21;

Extras: (b 4, lb 7, nb 1, w 4) 16;

Total: (7 wkts, 50 overs) 293;

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-26, 3-80, 4-152, 5-192, 6-195, 7-208;

Bowling: Umesh Yadav 10-0-69-2, A Wakhare 8-0-56-0, Rajneesh Gurbani 9-0-52-2, Yash Thakur 10-0-45-2, K Sharma 10-0-45-1, Ravi Jangid 3-0-15-0.


Stay updated with the latest from IPL Auction 2025, including the final squads of all 10 teams – MI, CSK, RCB, GT, RR, KKR, DC, PBKS, SRH, and LSG. Don't miss the latest updates on our Live Cricket Score page.