No surprises on final day as Vidarbha take first innings points

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Vidarbha were looking for the first innings lead. Assam were trying to deny them. Vidarbha got the first innings lead. Assam failed in their quest. All these happened in the first 47.1 overs and from then on it was a drag even as Vidarbha enforced the follow-on on the final day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Assam at St Xavier's College ground, Thumba on Sunday. Assam held on in their second innings to draw the match and got one point to open their kitty. Vidarbha added three more points to their account and now have six from two matches.

Assam resumed their first innings at 98 for 3 on the final day, still way adrift of the follow-on mark of 266. They lost Rishav Das (16) very quickly to Lalit Yadav. Assam's hopes were pinned on their star batsman Arun Karthik and for a while, it seemed he would bail them out of trouble as he played a couple of few fluent drives against the spinners. But left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate was beginning to influence the game and he got a Karthik (20) with a ball that kept a bit low and thudded into the pads. Sarwate then bowled overnight batsman Tarjinder Singh (23) to leave Assam in further trouble at 147 for six. Captain Gokul Sharma (15) failed to produce a substantial knock as he became Sarwate's third victim of the morning. At lunch, Assam were 192 for seven.

In the first over after lunch, left-hander Syed Mohammed hit a six over mid-on off Sarwate. The strategy after lunch from the Assam batsmen was to attack and get past that follow-on mark quickly. Their hero with the ball Sarupam Purkayastha showed that he could wield the willow as well and he launched a counterattack against the spin duo of Sarwate and offie Akshay Wakhare playing some delightful shots over cover.

Sarwate, however, was not to be denied as he trapped both Mohammed (23) and Arup Das (0) in front of the wicket in quick succession to complete his third first-class five-wicket haul. Vidarbha wrapped up the innings running out the last man Krishna Das (0) as Sarupam remained not out on a well-made 44.

Vidarbha then asked Assam to come out to bat again, but on a slow turner, their tired bowlers would not have fancied bowling their opposition out within one-and-a-half sessions. After nine overs in the final session, both captains decided that it was time for the handshake and the pack-up. Assam were 73 for two at close. Sarwate was adjudged the man-of-the-match for his performance on the last day.

"The second day was called off. That was not in our hands. The bowlers did really well on this slow wicket. We would like to take the positives and there's no disappointment with the result," said Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal after the match. Vidarbha play their next match against Jharkhand at Wayanad while Assam would take on powerhouses Karnataka in Mumbai.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 416 all out (Ganesh Satish 105, Sanjay Ramaswamy 83,Jitesh Sharma 53; Sarupam P 5-133) vs Assam 227 all out(Sarupam P 44, Pallavkumar Das 37; Aditya Sarwate 5-72, Akshay Wakhare 2-71) and 73/2.