NAGPUR: Fresh after retained by Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL auction, Uttar Pradesh middle-order bat Rinku Singh was threatening to seize what had been an otherwise Vidarbha’s day. His attacking strokeplay, that had two sixes and ten fours, took Vidarbha by surprise. A quick glove-work from Akshay Wadkar to stump the batsman off Aditya Sarwate ended Singh’s stay and brought Vidarbha back on the first day of their Ranji Trophy campaign at Sultanpur, Gurgaon, on Thursday.
Despite opting to bat, Uttar Pradesh's top-4 were found wanting against Vidarbha bowlers in the morning. Vidarbha had reduced UP to 57 for 4. But Singh (65) turned the table soon after his arrival. The southpaw along with Aksh Deep Nath (91) were in command with a century (112) stand when Wadkar affected a brilliant stumping. Vidarbha continued the good work from there as UP managed 268 for 7 on Day 1 of Elite-G Ranji Trophy match.
UP found no trick in their armour to deal with out-swingers of Indian pacer Umesh Yadav (2-37). UP skipper Karan Sharma played in the line but the ball swung away and castled him.
While Yadav was consistent, Aditya Thakare (2-42) was moving it in both directions to make most of the first hour. Since the ball was not bouncing much on the Sultanpur wicket, skipper Faiz Fazal went straight to his trump card Sarwate within 45 minutes from the start.
With Vidarbha's top-three bowlers bowling in tandem, any opposition would find it difficult to deal with. UP were no different as they succumbed to Sarwate's tight line, Umesh's swing and Thakare's fourth-stump attack in the initial hour.
The only rough patch for Vidarbha was when Singh and Nath were playing. Singh, in particular, went after anything that was short or way too full. Singh was good on the backfoot and Vidarbha served him what he wanted. He accumulated 38 runs in the cover-point region.
Faiz brought Wakhare, who is known to fish left-handers’ wickets, when Singh was batting but to no avail. Ambidextrous Akshay Karnewar had an off day with the ball.
UP had another meaningful union of 85 runs for the sixth wicket between Nath and Dhruv (52 n.o) but they found their nemesis in Apoorv Wankhade.
When Nath steered one to square-leg for a single, swift Wankhade rushed to his right behind square-leg and returned a bullet throw to Wadkar to catch both the batsmen at bowler's end and bid adieu to well-set Nath.
BRIEF SCORES
UP 268 for 7 in 90 overs (Aksh Deep Nath 91, Rinku Singh 65, Dhruv Jurel 52 not out; Umesh Yadav 2-37, Aditya Thakare 2-42, Aditya Sarwate 2-76) vs Vidarbha
