NAGPUR: When Tripura mainstay Sudip Chatterjee was batting in the middle, their dugout was confident — as is the norm for them. The mood changed when Vidarbha substitute fielder Mohit Kale took a brilliant catch going low to his right in gully region to send Chatterjee packing on Friday morning.
The effort from Kale off Yash Thakur pumped up Vidarbha. They went all out from there, riding on a joint effort by Akshay Wakhare (4-50) and Aditya Sarwate (3-45) Vidarbha recorded a thumping 220-run victory at Civil Lines ground.
It is Vidarbha's second victory in as many Elite Group-D matches in Ranji Trophy. After setting a target of 345 runs, Vidarbha bundled Tripura out for 124 well before tea.
Friday's was one of the best victories by Vidarbha in recent times considering they were bowled out on Day-1 after winning the toss and conceded the lead on Day-2. Later, Vidarbha showed glimpses of their fearless brand of cricket.
It is only the second occasion in the last 5 seasons when Vidarbha won after conceding the first innings lead. They did so in 2017-18 when they defeated Karnataka in the semis. Recording such a victory in his 100th Ranji Trophy match must be a special feeling for skipper Faiz Fazal.
Earlier in the morning, as soon as Ganesh Satish (151 n.o; 206b, 18x4, 1x6) reached the 150-run mark, Vidarbha declared their innings for 379-8 within the first 3 overs of the last day. Later, Rajneesh Gurbani (7-3-14-2) sent both Tripura openers with the new ball. In the next 8 overs, Yash took his only wicket and spinners took over from there.
On the red-soil pitch, with enough foot marks on the last day, Tripura were always under pressure. As soon as both leading spinners in the domestic circuit Akshay and Aditya started bowling in tandem from the 24th over, the Tripura batters were in disarray.
While Sarwate changed angles, played with his length and kept it consistently to the stumps, Wakhare went traditional and tossed the ball up, trying to deceive batters in flight. Both succeeded in their plans claiming 7 wickets between them.
After Chatterjee's departure, Wriddhiman Saha arrived and looked confident against both the spinners. But the spinners persisted. Sarwate, from Jaika end, pitched one in a rough patch and the ball suddenly rose, taking the shoulder of recognized batter Deepak Khatri's bat, which was caught by Apoorv Wankhade.
From here, it was the off spinner who spun Vidarbha to victory by grabbing four of the remaining five wickets.
