Vijay Hazare Trophy Round-up | Elite Group A: Akshay Wadkar helps Vidarbha register first win of the season

Vidarbha put their first points on the table of the elite group A after they chased down a low total of 205 against Maharashtra at the KSCA Cricket ground at Alur. Maharashtra put up a target of 205 runs for Vidarbha to chase with Ankeet Bawne scoring 62. Small contributions from openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (32) and Jay Pande (28) alongside wicketkeeper Rohit Motwani (28) helped them reach a low total of 205. Aditya Sarwate, Darshan Nalkande, and Darshan Nalkande all picked up two wickets each for Vidarbha. In the second innings, Vidarbha looked like losing again as they lost six wickets within the first 100 runs in 35 overs. Wicketkeeper Akshay Wadkar’s 82* alongside Rushabh Rathod‘s 20 and Aditya Sarwate’s 18 helped them chase down the target and register their first victory. The result does not change any positions on the table, as Maharashtra still sit second on the table and Vidarbha remains eighth. 

In another game at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Punjab beat Railways by 58 runs by the VJD method. Punjab put up 284 runs in 50 overs by batting first. However, the target was reduced to 268 through the VJD method. Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Yuvaraj Singh starred as they hit 101 and 96 respectively. Chandrakant Sakure made sure Punjab did not reach 300 within with his three wickets. It, however, did not matter as Punjab packed Railways up for 210 in 44 overs itself. Captain Saurabh Wakaskar was the lone warrior for Railways with his knock of 104 runs. The victory makes sure Punjab are still in contention for next round. Punjab now sits fourth in elite group A with 14 points while Railways are in the last position with no wins in the tourney. 

In another top vs bottom clash in Bengaluru, Mumbai made sure that they continued winning ways against a low scoring Goa. Goa won the toss and elected to bat, however, the decision backfired when the whole Goa team fell for 186 with only Amit Verma (46) and Suyash Prabhudessai (52) getting good scores. Contributions from Captain Suyash Prabhudessai (24) and wicketkeeper Vaz (29) helped them to reach the total. Dhawan Kulkarni picked up three wickets and Royston Dias, Shams Mulani and Shivam Dubey took two wickets each. Mumbai continued the domination with the bat as they completed the chase in 36 overs. Akhil Herwadar scored 108* as Mumbai showed why they sit on top of Elite Group A.