Experience the key as Vidarbha take fresh guard under Faiz Fazal against Himachal

NAGPUR: Cometh the longer format, cometh the experience — this has been the mantra for teams around the globe. Vidarbha will be no different as they take fresh guard in the Vijay Hazare tournament beginning Wednesday.
After a leap from plate to elite courtesy young blood in a pleasantly surprising Mustaq Ali T20s, Vidarbha will look upon their seniors to come good in the one-dayers.
Faiz Fazal, the most seasoned campaigner in Vidarbha, is set to lead the side. To add more experience under his wings, Aditya Sarwate and promising pacer with distinctive skillset Aditya Thakare have been drafted as they face Himachal in the opener.
Faiz, who is coming into the tourney after a successful season in the UK, will be excited to continue in similar fashion on the red soil track with green tinge of grass at Dadoji Konddev Stadium in Thane. This will the first one-day match after 25 years at the venue. The previous game was played in January 1996 between Bombay and Saurashtra.
Faiz’s opening partner Atharva Taide, who is in the best of his form, is timing the ball really well. Taide, the highest run-getter for Vidarbha in T20s and also in the UK, will be raring to go considering the big platform these one-dayers provide ahead of the IPL auction.
Not only the opening pair but also the middle-order is filled with experience that can thwart any opposition with their ability to keep the scorecard ticking. They all need to fire in unison to better their forgetful performance in the last season, where Vidarbha won just one match and lost four.
The addition of left-arm spinner Sarwate is a big boost for Vidarbha. Faiz-led side needed someone like Sarwate to follow the big-hitters duo of Apoorv Wankhade and Jitesh Sharma.
Sarwate is an asset with the ball along with off-spinner Akshay Wakhare from the other end. The Sarwate-Wakhare combo has been the most successful for Vidarbha in almost all formats. However, considering the form of ambidextrous spinner Akshay Karnewar, it will be interesting to see who gets a go in the opening encounter.
Himachal, who are known for their limited over exploits, have been in decent form. They have been banking upon their batting trio of Prashant Chopra, Nikhil Gangta and Abhimanyu Rana. The three are known for their ability to hit big. They need to bring out their ‘A’ game to deal with pacers Thakare, Yash Thakur and the combo of Vidarbha spinners.
A lot will depend on how pacers do in the morning as the toss will be important. Vidarbha top-five are in good form with Ganesh Satish and Akshay Wadkar in between. They would look to replicate their T20 performance in the tourney.