Vidarbha complete hat-trick of wins in Vijay Hazare Trophy, defeat Maharashtra by 5 wickets

Jaipur: Change of ground and weather conditions did not change the result of the match as Vidarbha completed a hat-trick of wins in the Vijay Hazare (Group B) One-Day Trophy at the KL Saini Stadium here on Monday.
It was bright and sunny when Vidarbha registered wins against Mizoram and Manipur at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium and Jaipuriya Vidyalaya grounds, respectively in their first couple of matches.
However, on Monday when the conditions were overcast, which forced the umpires to curtail the match to 40-over-a-side, and chasing a daunting target of 256, Vidarbha uplifted their performance to down Maharashtra by 5 wickets.
With three wins in as many matches, Vidarbha are now leading the table with 12 points to their credit. The Atharva Taide-led side will face Jharkhand in their fourth league outing on Wednesday.
Taide had no hesitation in opting to bowl first as the conditions were gloomy. Umesh Yadav, who was rested for the first two outings, straightway struck to send back Maharashtra opener Naushad Shaikh (3) with a beauty. Fellow pacer Darshan Nalkande scalped the prized wicket of skipper Kedar Jadhav (6) to reduce them to 38 for 2.
But Om Bhosale (82) and Ankit Bawane (82) piled up 123 runs for the third wicket to give Maharashtra a solid footing.
Star of the opening match, Nalkande wreaked havoc in his second spell and snared up four more wickets to complete his five-wicket haul. Some late hitting by Nikhil Naik (47 not out) propelled Maharashtra to 255 for 8 in 40 overs.
Vidarbha started disastrously as they lost Sanjay Ramaswamy in the first over, but Taide (60) and Aman Mokhade (61) stitched together a vital 111-run stand for the second wicket to steady the ship.
After failing to get going in the first couple of matches, Taide found his form to smash a quick-fire half-century. The southpaw’s 46-ball knock was studded with 7 boundaries and six.
Mokhade, who was dismissed for 49 on Saturday against Manipur, registered his maiden fifty in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in his third match.
The loss of Karun Nair and Akshay Wadkar hurt Vidarbha’s cause but Harsh Dubey and Shubham Dubey batted brilliantly to take their team to victory with 5 deliveries to spare.
Harsh remained unbeaten on 56 (54 balls, 4x4, 2x6), while Shubham was not out on 62 (41 balls, 6x4, 3x6) in an unfinished sixth wicket stand of 101. AN Kazi was the most successful bowler for Maharashtra with 3 for 29.
Brief Scores
Maharashtra 255/8 in 40 overs (Om Bhosale 82, Ankit Bawane 82; Darshan Nalkande 5/34, Umesh Yadav 1-41, Yash Thakur 1-38) lost to Vidarbha 261/5 in 39.1 overs (Aman Mokhade 61, Shubham Dubey 62 not out, Atharva Taide 60, Harsh Dubey 56 not out; AN Kazi 3/29) by 5 wickets.
CAPTION
Medium-pacer Darshan Nalkande bagged a five-wicket haul to help Vidarbha beat Maharashtra by five wickets in Jaipur on Monday