NAGPUR: Odisha gave a challenging target of 198 runs for Vidarbha in the last 30 overs of the day on Wednesday. It was such a total that the home team had it in them to achieve it, provided the wickets stayed intact.
Though hard-hitter Darshan Nalkande was sent at No. 3, things did not go as per plan. Vidarbha lost three main wickets within 10 overs. As a result, the home team played out a draw and secured three points on the last day of the encounter in the Col CK Nayudu Trophy.
In the fourth innings, Vidarbha opener Aniruddha Choudhari (1) ended up giving a catch back to the bowler. In the next three balls, his partner and first innings centurion Satyam Bhoyar (6) was caught at slip while searching for a boundary off an upper-cut. In-form Yash Rathod (13) and Darshan (29 n.o) were setting things up nicely for the last 20 overs. However, Yash was trapped plumb in the tenth over.
From here, debutant Danish Malewar (10 n.o) and Yash played the next 7 overs before the teams decided to shake hands soon after mandatory overs started. Earlier, Vidarbha lost their last wicket in the very first over adding just 1 run. Vidarbha took a 5 run lead, which the visiting side knocked off and went on to score 202 for 5 in 52.3 overs.
Odisha opener Gaurav Choudhary (77 off 134 balls) kept a cool head and stitched vital partnerships. He was involved in two 50+ unions that helped them set the target.
Gaurav and Sandeep Pattanaik (33 off 48b) added 74 runs for the second wicket. Later, Gaurau and Subhankar Biswas (38 n.o off 40b) scored 51 runs for the fifth wicket before Gaurav got out and Odisha decided to declare.
BRIEF SCORES: Odisha 375 & 202 for 5 in 52.3 overs (Gaurav Choudhary 77, Subhankar Biswas 38 n.o; Yash Kadam 2-16) vs Vidarbha (overnight 379-9) 380 all out in 125.2 overs (Satyam Bhoyar 110, Yash Rathod 64, Aniket Pande 56 n.o; Krishna Palai 4-116) & 61 for 3 in 17 overs (Darshan Nalkande 29 n.o)
