Wadkar, Rathod grind Mumbai down after Anand ton

February 19, 2025

in Cricket

Reading Time: 2 mins read

Vidarbha 393 and 147 for 4 (Rathod 59*, Wadkar 31*) lead Mumbai 270 (Anand 106, Rekhade 4-55) by 260 runs

An unbroken 91-run stand for the fifth wicket between Yash Rathod and Akshay Wadkar helped Vidarbha overcome a top-order collapse within the second innings, as they ended Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy semi-final in opposition to Mumbai on 147 for 4, which successfully is a lead of 260.

Rathod was unbeaten on 59, his second fifty-plus rating within the match, whereas Wadkar’s 31 not out was a usually gritty effort wherein he batted out 102 deliveries. The left-right mixture was the proper balm for a nervy Vidarbha dressing room as spinners Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian started making the ball discuss on a Nagpur deck that had begun to point out indicators of variable bounce.

Mumbai’s day might’ve been far worse if not for wicketkeeper-batter Akash Anand, who introduced up his second first-class century, to assist whittle down their deficit. Anand, 29 who opened the innings almost batted by way of, and had been on the sector proper from the beginning of the sport till he was the ninth batter dismissed. Anand had earlier made his maiden ton final month within the last group fixture in opposition to Meghalaya. Not like that knock, this one was a stonewalling effort that took him 247 deliveries to assemble.

Resuming on their in a single day 188 for 7, Anand put collectively a 69-run stand for the eighth wicket with Kotian, who made 33. Kotian ought to’ve been out on 6 when he was dropped early within the day by Wadkar off Yash Thakur. After his dismissal, to Parth Rekhade who did a bulk of the injury on the second night along with his left-arm spin, Mumbai managed so as to add simply 23 extra as they have been bowled out for 270, thereby conceding a 113-run lead.

Vidarbha’s second innings was off to the worst attainable begin as Shardul Thakur struck second ball to take away Atharva Taide on the stroke of tea. Danish Malewar, and never Rekhade, who walked out to bat at No. 3 constructed the lead with a brisk 29 earlier than chipping one again to Mulani as he regarded to flick in opposition to the flip.

The sport got here alive when Karun Nair and Dhruv Shorey fell within the area of three overs as Vidarbha slipped to 56 for 4, with their lead simply 169. Each Nair and Shorey have been out lbw, to Mulani and Kotian respectively, as they have been defeated by sharp flip from the tough.

Mumbai have been denied from there on for the massive components of the ultimate session as Wadkar and Rathod blunted a tiring assault to take the battle into the fourth day, with the hosts properly answerable for proceedings. Shivam Dube, who picked up a five-for within the first innings, was solely known as in to bowl after the fortieth over, by which period Wadkar and Rathod had seemingly stemmed the injury.

This leaves the defending champions, the 42-time winners, needing to make large inroads early on Thursday to have any likelihood of staying alive.

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