NAGPUR: Vidarbha's campaign in the Vijay Hazare Trophy has already come to end on Saturday. They have played three games against good domestic sides and lost all of them. Their victories have come only against inexperienced sides from the north-east.
With two matches to go, Vidarbha have nothing to gain as they are out of knockout contention. On Monday, Vidarbha will face Assam, the table-topper of group-B, in Kolkata. Though Assam are sitting at the top, they are in a must-win situation as other teams in the group are also fighting for knockout berths.
Vidarbha are likely to try their bench strength. They would look to field Rajneesh Gurbani, who replaced injured Yash Thakur, in the remaining two games.
Rajneesh has been working hard on his fitness and swing with IPL franchises. Though the right-arm pacer has not played a List-A match since February 2021, it is learnt from IPL franchises that he has improved a lot keeping limited over games in perspective.
The Vidarbha think-tank may field youngster Harsh Dubey, who is yet to play a one-day game this season, in the last two matches.
It is highly unlikely that Vidarbha would make major changes to their batting order. Getting runs here would act as a confidence booster for the key batters in the Ranji Trophy, which begins from December 13.
Assam are coming into this match after a convincing victory over formidable Karnataka on Saturday. Their IPL fame Riyan Parag is leading from the front. He is scoring runs and taking crucial wickets in the middle overs. Vidarbha are wary of what Riyan can bring to the table.
