Akshay Karnewar

Tushar Kadu's fighting century and Akshay Karnewar's brilliant all-round performance helped Vidarbha consolidate their position against Chhattisgarh on the second day of the Col CK Nayudu U-23 Trophy.

Akshay Karnewar is killing them softly. The country's only ambidextrous spinner currently in action has nonchalantly destroyed opposition with his simple 'choke the runs and reap dividends' formula in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Apart from his attractive batting, Vidarbha all-rounder Akshay Karnewar can bowl effectively with both hands - off-spin and left arm spin.

Ganesh Satish scored a patient 78 while Apoorv Wankhede smashed 45-ball 64 as Vidarbha beat Haryana by 68 runs in a group A League match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, on Saturday.

Talented opening batsman Tushar Kadu scored an unbeaten 88 to help Vidarbha make a decent total of 224 for 6 against Chhattisgarh on Day 1 of the Col CK Nayudu U-23 Cricket tournament in Raipur on Sunday.

Chandan Singh and Kunjan Patel slammed brilliant half-centuries to help President XI post a challenging total against Secretary XI on the opening day of the VCA U-25 trial match at the Kalamna ground on Monday.

Before the successive Irani Cup triumphs, Vidarbha had played 11 Ranji matches in the season. Akshay Karnewar featured in just four of those. Being the third spinner - behind Akshay Wakhare and Aditya Sarvate - Karnewar’s name in the playing XI wasn't always guaranteed.

Kushal Kakad struck a brilliant 83 to help Indian Gymkhana post a decent total of 229 on the board against Navniketan Club in the third-place play-off match.

Attacking batsman Faiz Fazal will lead Vidarbha in the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy, the national ODI championship, while Akshay Wadkar will be his deputy.

Vidarbha were inching towards their most embarrassing defeat in List-A cricket on Sunday. Pursuing a 315-run target, all their 7 main batters were back in the hut with just 51 on the board within 15 overs. It looked like Karnataka would register a shocking result against the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy semifinalist team.

When Vidarbha were confirming their place in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy knockouts on Monday, their left-arm spinner Akshay Karnewar was walking into the record books, dot by dot.

All the three matches of the MN Dorairajan memorial cricket tournament ended in a draw on Sunday.

The Jamtha wicket had no demons. It was still very good to bat on even after three days of wear and tear. Had Vidarbha lower middle-order applied themselves and stayed with allrounder Karn Sharma (52 not out, 7x4, 2x6), they would have crossed Chhattisgarh's 489.

Former Ranji champions Vidarbha defeated Nagaland by five wickets to secure their second win on the trot in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 Plate group clash on Friday.

Akshay Karnewar started his career as an opening batsman. One could see him hitting big, booming drives through the off-side. He would always look elegant. However, once his ambidextrous bowling was discovered, Karnewar’s batting took a backseat. He became a lower middle-order batsman, who would hardly ever get a chance to play a long innings and score big. His batting skills, however, remained intact and have come handy for Vidarbha.

"Right-arm off-spin" said Akshay Karnewar, informing the umpire, just as he was about to bowl. Nothing unusual about that you would think. But the umpire was a little taken aback.

Opener Aniruddha Chore hammered a brilliant fifty to guide President XI to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Secretary XI in the VCA Twenty20 cricket tournament.

Vidarbha crushed Meghalaya by eight wickets to notch up their third straight win and remain atop the Plate Group standings in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament on Saturday.

Akshay Karnewar struck his maiden first-class century to hand Vidarbha a crucial 95-run first-innings lead before Rest of India, riding on a fighting partnership, erased the deficit in the Irani Cup on Thursday.

Continuing their dream run, Vidarbha displayed a great character to overcome a stiff challenge from their neighboring state Chhattisgarh in a match which was reduced to 42-over-a-side due to bad light early in the morning.

Playing only his second match, Aman Mokhade impressed with his brilliant batting to help Vidarbha canter to an eight-wicket victory against Manipur in the Vijay Hazare Group B league match at the Jaipuriya Vidyalaya ground here on Saturday.

The sparkling stars of last IPL - Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana and Washington Sundar - have all been included in the Board President’s XI for the practice match against Australia to be held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on September 12.

Shreyas Iyer must have felt a bit awkward raising the bat on reaching his half-century at an almost empty Eden Gardens. On Thursday, the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper was in a different colour and role at his ‘home’ ground.

Two years back when Narendra Hirwani visited Nagpur as Vidarbha’s spin consultant, he saw a tall spinner. After watching him for a while, Hirwani called him and said, “You have talent, if you work hard, you can do a good job for Vidarbha.”

The two-day VCA U-25 trial match between Executive XI and President XI ended in a draw at the Kalamna ground on Sunday.