NAGPUR: On a track that had become easy, Tripura were going strong chasing 259 on Sunday. Vidarbha had tried everything till the 33rd over but there was no help on offer with sun shining bright in Jaipur. When Tripura were just 114 runs away, skipper Faiz Fazal - as his last resort - came up with a plan of bowling short balls in cluster. It worked wonders as Vidarbha made it to the quarterfinals of Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Faiz went to his go-to bowler - Yash Thakur - and he executed the skipper's plan with precision. The pacer hit the deck harder and bowled at least four short deliveries in each over with venomous pace to take wind out of Tripura's sail. Thakur accounted for all in-form batsmen in his successive overs (34th, 36th, 38th) with perfectly targeted bouncers to bring Vidarbha back in the match, which they ultimately won by 34 runs at Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
With such a handsome performance from Thakur (9.2-0-45-4) and finishing touches by Darshan Nalkande (9-0-41-3), Vidarbha entered the quarterfinals for the third time in the tournament's history. They will play Saurashtra at the same venue on Wednesday.
Thakur not only made the match out of nowhere but also became the highest wicket-taker of the tournament surpassing Yuzvendra Chahal with 18 wickets. Thakur had given Vidarbha a winning start in this meet with a 5-wicket haul against Himachal.
Before Vidarbha pacers cast a spell, spinners - Aditya Sarwate (10-0-33-0), Akshay Wakhare (9-0-43-0) and Atharva Taide (4-1-17-1) - made sure Tripura don't run away with the match.
With nine wickets in hand till the 33rd overs, Tripura continued to have an upper hand after winning the toss and putting Vidarbha in on a difficult wicket where ball was holding with a lot of lateral movement.
Vidarbha's Taide (51), Yash Rathod (57), Akshay Wadkar (41) and Ganesh Satish (40) dealt well with disciplined bowling. Later, Apoorv Wankhade (26 off 18b) and Aditya Sarwate (25 n.o off 19b) scored quick runs to put a respectable total on the board. Vidarbha were also benefitted by 4-5 dropped catches.
Tripura had a good start with openers Bishal Ghosh (44) and Bikramkumar Das (61) adding 96 runs before Taide stopped Ghosh's bat flow. The incoming Samit Gohil was batting at ease. However, pacer Thakur sent Das, Gohil and the next man Pawan in his three successive over to put Vidarbha on top.
BRIEF SCORES: Vidarbha 258 for 7 in 50 overs (Atharva Taide 51, Yash Rathod 57, Akshay Wadkar 41, Ganesh Satish 40; M Murasingh 2-41, Rana Dutta 2-47) beat Tripura 224 all out in 49.2 overs (B Das 61, B Ghosh 44; Yash Thakur 4-45, Darshan Nalkande 3-41) by 34 runs.
