Vijay Hazare Trophy | Akshay Wakhare takes four-fer as Vidarbha topple Baroda in low-scoring encounter
BCCI
On his return to captaincy, Faiz Fazal struck a half-century to help Vidarbha’s run-chase after Akshay Wakhare took a four-fer to crush Baroda by seven wickets. There was no resistance from the entire batting order as Vidarbha bowlers moved the game quite fast to bring an end to Baroda’s innings.
Brief Scores: Baroda 131 all-out in 50 overs (Rishi Arothe 30; Akshay Wakhare 4-22) lost to Vidarbha 134-3 (Faiz Fazal 58*, Jitesh Sharma 37; Yusuf Pathan 1-13) by 7 wickets.
Fazal took over the captaincy from Jaffer in the game and opted to bowl first on a wicket that has largely supported the bowlers over the course of this tournament so far. Taking the benefit of the same, Rajneesh Gurbani started inflicting early damage on the opposition, dismissing both openers Vishnu Solanki and Kedar Devdhar to reduce the team to 22/2.
Although Swapnil Singh and Krunal Pandya showed some resistance, that was never enough to survive the threat posed by the spin trio of Akshay Karnewar, Akshay Wakhare, and Aditya Sarwate. No. 10 batsman Rishi Arothe came on the way of Vidarbha dismissing Baroda under 100 and he was truly successful in guiding the team past 131, albeit the fact that the team batted for the entire 50-over period.
The tricky nature of the wicket must have sent caution notice to the defending Ranji champions but Fazal, along with wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma, mixed caution with aggression to steady the ship. The 71-run partnership at the top ended Vidarbha’s threat of losing the game, and it was a formality for Fazal to finish off the proceedings.
Although Apoorv Wankhade and Atharwa Taide could score only a run each, Wadkar kept his calm to be the perfect partner in crime for his skipper. It was a much-needed win for Vidarbha after the thumping losses to Uttar Pradesh and Odisha in their last two games.
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