Vidarbha and skipper Atharva Taide on cusp of history

NAGPUR: The way Civil Lines wicket was rolled for the final encounter, it was nothing but easy to predict that the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy champion would be adjudged on the basis of batting prowess of the two teams. The flat and dry red-soiled pitch looked best suited for batting and Vidarbha skipper Atharva Taide made the most of it.
Southpaw Taide's (313 no; 468b, 34x4, 1x6) second century in as many matches, this time a triple ton, led Vidarbha's dominant batting show as the hosts piled 579 for 6 in 173 overs against Madhya Pradesh on the penultimate day.Vidarbha were replying to Madhya Pradesh's first innings score 289 and had taken massive 290 runs lead when the stumps were drawn on Tuesday.
Taide, who began the day at 129, added 184 runs to his overnight score to become first triple centurion of the tournament this season. He also became the second batsmen after Yuvraj Singh to score a triple ton in the Under-19 final. Yuvraj had notched-up 358 against Bihar in 1999.
With his superlative batting the skipper ensured that Vidarbha win another trophy in what has been a historic season. A lead of 290 runs and the innings still to end, Vidarbha's anointment as the Under-19 champions will be just a formality on Wednesday.
Also, another 46 runs on the last day of the match would see the Vidarbha skipper entering the record books. If Atharva manages to score of those runs he will become the highest scorer in Cooch Behar Trophy final match.
Atharva and Nayan Chavan (107; 273b, 10x4, 3x6) - both hailing from Akola - had stitched many partnerships since their childhood days. On Tuesday, the duo came up with the most important partnership of their career so far. They added 263 run for the fourth wicket and piled on the agony on the rivals.
The Vidarbha skipper was particularly severe on anything that was pitched slightly full or short. Soon it looked like the opponents had lost all the tricks in their bag. The skipper chopped, cut, sliced, steered and struck powerful shots and hit 34 boundaries and 1 six during his undefeated 468-ball stay at the wicket.
While Atharva was scoring at relatively brisk pace compared to the second day of the match, Chavan was calculative and played an excellent second fiddle to his skipper. They batted for 80.2 overs to put Vidarbha in a position from where they are assured of the trophy.
Chavan, who has played under Atharva in Under-14 team and won the man-of-the-match award in the final of the Rajsingh Dungarpur Trophy that Vidarbha won in 2013-14, hit 10 fours and three sixes during stay at the wicket.
When the Atharva and Nayan put Vidarbha 143 runs ahead, the latter was sent back by rival skipper Rishabh Chouhan (2-97) with the score on 432. Later, Atharva crossed the 250 mark in company of Sandesh Drugwar (35). They added 92 runs for the fifth wicket and took the score beyond 524 before Sandesh got out.
In the third session, Atharva rushed to his triple ton when he had Aniruddha Choudhari (11) as partner before the latter got out.
BRIEF SCORES
Madhya Pradesh: 289 trail by Vidarbha: 579-6 in 173 overs (Atharva Taide 313 n.o., Nayan Chavan 107, Akash Kumar 55; Mohd Saad Baggad 3-139, Rishabh Chouhan 2-97) by 290 runs.