NAGPUR: Going round-the-wicket, pitching it between middle and leg and spinning it square to clip the bails form a recipe of a dream ball of any left-arm spinner. On Saturday, just three balls into the third morning, Aditya Sarwate bowled his dream ball to castle Rahul Tripathi and set the tone for Vidarbha’s pursuit of first innings lead.
Tripathi was Sarwate’s second wicket and Maharashtra were two down for 46. From there, Sarwate became the nemesis of each batsmen and a wrecker-in-chief with a five-for.
Vidarbha rode on left-arm spinner’s influential performance to reduce the rivals to 273 for 6 in the group ‘G’ Ranji Trophy match in Gurgaon. It was Sarwate’s 16th five-wicket haul.
Maharashtra are still trailing by 296 runs. When they started replying to Vidarbha’s mammoth 569 for 5 declared, they had a mountain to climb to earn a lead. The story has not changed much despite centurion Naushan Shaikh (103) and Ankit Bawne (92) adding 184 runs for the 4th wicket.
Within nine overs from Tripathi’s fall, Sarwate sent Pavan Shah, centurion from the last match, packing. With 63 for 3 on board, Maharashtra were in a spot of bother.
Their skipper Bawane, backbone of the team, stood his end. From the other, Bawane got good support from Shaikh. There were two seasoned spinners, Akshay Wakhare (30-3-85-1) and Sarwate (35-15-64-5) bowling at them. The batsmen did not show any sign of trouble on a flat Sultanpur pitch.
The pair tested Vidarbha’s patience with the 381-ball stay in the middle. They looked dangerous as Shaikh was striking cleanly and Bawana was using his vast experience to garner singles with ease.
The ball was turning slow and there was nothing for pacers. Vidarbha skipper Faiz Fazal knew either Wakhare or Sarwate can break the solid-looking union and he continued with them with longer spells.
After hitting 13 fours and a six during his century, Shaikh was surprised by Sarwate, who brought one back-in and caught the centurion playing for the turn to trap him plumb. Shaikh’s fall called for a loud celebration as Vidarbha heaved a sigh of relief.
Offie Wakhare, known for catching big fishes, caught right-handed Bawane making a similar mistake as Shaikh to head back at a snail’s pace. The last day is crucial for Vidarbha as they at least need 3 points from first innings lead, if not an outright win, to stay in the contention for knockouts.
