NAGPUR: No matter what conditions are on offer, if Vidarbha need wickets, they turn to Aditya Sarwate. On a pacers' paradise - Lahli, Rohtak - on Thursday, Vidarbha pacers proved ineffective but left-arm spinner Sarwate looked as lethal as he is on any spin-friendly track.
The 32-year-old created more chances than pacers, was economical and grabbed three Assam wickets as he went on to become fourth Vidarbha bowler to pick 200 First-Class wickets during the last elite group 'G' match of Ranji Trophy. In the current season, he is Vidarbha's leading wicket-taker and 3rd in the country so far with 17 wickets.
Barring Sarwate (23-8-64-3) and Akshay Wakhare's (15-2-41-0) economical bowling, there were no positives for Vidarbha after winning the toss. The pacers had an off day in favourable conditions as Assam scored 289 for 6, their highest score of this season. Assam's Sarupam Purkayastha (113) was the top scorer. He added 110 runs with Rishav Das (44) for the third wicket.
On Thursday afternoon, Sarwate bowled his peculiar delivery that troubled Chetashwar Pujara in the 2018-19 final in Nagpur, to dismiss Assam's dangerous-looking Denish Das (35). With this, he joined the 200-wicket club of Vidarbha that has only Pritam Gandhe (340), Umesh Yadav (327) and Akshay Wakhare (286) in it.
Sarwate has consistently been among the wickets for Vidarbha. His long incisive spells or batting with tail to bail Vidarbha out has made him one of Vidarbha's stars in the last 3-4 seasons that includes two Ranji titles.
He has carved all his major milestones in last three seasons, including best figures in an innings (7-121 in 2019-20); best figures in a match (11-157 in Ranji final) and also 55 wickets in a Ranji season, highest for Vidarbha so far, both in 2018-19.
"What makes Sarwate effective is his accuracy in bowling his 2-3 variations over a longer period. His strength is to bowl at a nice pace, not give much air and let the batter defend as long as he can. When the batter tries to score against him, Sarwate traps him," said a former VCA left-arm spinner.
In the previous two matches, UP and Maharashtra batters were clueless while dealing with Sarwate. In both the games, he took five-wicket hauls each and his team got the first innings lead.
Now, Vidarbha need an outright result in order to stay in contention for knockouts and for that, they need to wrap Assam's innings quickly on Friday.
