
It was a script that has been all too familiar for Vidarbha this season. For the third time in seven matches, the side fought back after conceding a first-innings lead to complete another outright win, this time a 58-run win against Hyderabad at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Sunday.
Harsh Dubey, the highest wicket-taker this season was the protagonist once again, picking up six wickets in the fourth innings to guide Vidarbha to its sixth win in Group B.
Despite Tanay Thyagarajan getting the visitor off to a positive start with two exquisite punches down the ground, the Hyderabad vice-captain was undone in just the second over of the day after a ball from Aditya Thakare kept low and rapped him on the pads.
Opener Abhirath Reddy and wicketkeeper-batter Rahul Radesh looked solid in their defence, forging a 59-ball association. A length ball from Akshay Wakhare that spun away and beat Radesh, flagged the sign of things to come.
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Abhirath edged his attempted flick onto his thigh pad and the catch was duly accepted at first slip to give Dubey a wicket in his first over of the day, his 50th in the tournament this season. K. Himateja fell in the left-arm spinner’s next over without troubling the scores.
Radesh was the lone bright spot in the visitor’s batting in the fourth innings, employing the sweep shot to good avail. Sensing the threat the ‘keeper possessed, captain Akshay Wadkar was quick to move the square fielders to the boundary, cutting off the scope for boundaries. The 22-year-old Hyderabad batter continued churning out the runs, pushing the ball into the empty spaces.
Parth Rekhade registered his name in the wickets column after Rahul Buddhi’s attempted guide through third man, caught the edge and nestled in the keeper’s gloves. The debutant left-arm spinner then scalped the crucial wicket of Radesh, two shy of his fifty, to drive the final nail into Hyderabad’s chances of a revival.
After Dubey cleaned up Rakshann Readdi, Mohammed Siraj, kept the local crowd entertained for a while, using his wrists to flick a Rekhade delivery through forward square leg, before launching one back over the bowler’s head.
Dubey picked up his sixth fifer when he had opposition skipper C.V. Milind caught at forward short-leg, a ball after being clobbered over mid-on for a six. With the match almost in the bag, the crowd cheered for every Siraj boundary, with chants of ‘Siraj, Siraj’ echoing from the lone occupied stand in the stadium. An attempted slog sweep finally brought his cameo to a close, with slip fielder Atharva Taide backtracking before completing a comfortable catch to close out the match.