On Cusp of Glory

Vidarbha need eight wickets to win third Irani Cup

Chasing mammoth 361, Rest of India are 30-2

By Paritosh Pramanik

October 4, 2025

VIDARBHA captain wicketkeeper-batter Akshay Wadkar (36) and birthday-boy Darshan Nalkande (35) blunted the Rest of India’s bowling attack with gritty batting and took their side closer to title on the fourth day of their Irani Cup match on Saturday here at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium. 

Wadkar played the rescue act along with the taienders as Vidarbha’s last three batters put up an important 77 runs to take the match away from Rest of India. Despite a middle order-collapse in the morning, Vidarbha managed to score 232 in the second innings giving an imposing target of 360 to Rest of India. The Rajat Patidar-led side knocked off 30 runs but lost both its openers in 12 overs when the stumps were drawn for the day due to bad light. 

They still need another 331 for an outright win while Vidarbha need eight wickets to clinch their third Irani Cup.

Rest of India would have been in deep trouble had Danish Malewar not spilled three chances. He first dropped Abhimanyu Easwaran on successive deliveries at slips in the first over of the innings bowled by Harsh Dubey and in the next over failed to gather another one off Aditya Thakare, again in slips.

Still, Vidarbha ended the day taking the wickets of Aryan Juyal who was cleaned up by Aditya Thakare and Abhimanyu Easwaran who was trapped in front by Dubey. 

Earlier, Wadkar played a captain’s knock of 36 runs from 125 deliveries. He first bailed out his side from a precarious 105-5 and then added crucial runs with lower-order batters to take the team to a respectable total.

Wadkar lowered his guard and batted with patience to take the team’s total lead cross 300-run mark. Nalkande, who turned 27 on Saturday, showed immense maturity while batting lower down the order scoring an important 35 runs which assisted Ranji champions Vidarbha swell the lead to 359.

Resuming at an overnight score of 96 for two, with a handy overall lead of 224, Vidarbha lost Danish Malewar (16), Yash Rathod (5) and Dhruv Shorey (27) in first 30 minutes and 28 deliveries. Staying put in the middle was the need of the hour and Wadkar did the same with Harsh Dubey (29). The run flow dried from one end but Dubey, occasionally hit boundaries (3) and a couple of sixes to stretch Vidarbha’s lead.

However, while going for an upper cut shot, Dubey fell victim to Gurnoor Brar’s short pitched delivery giving an easy catch to Saransh Jain at third man boundary. The two added crucial 39 runs for the sixth wicket. Meanwhile, Wadkar continued to frustrate Rest of India bowlers playing a ‘dead bat’. Nalkande joined Wadkar in the middle and the two added 35 runs for the eighth wicket. 

Rest of India immediately took the new ball and Anshul Kamboj gave the breakthrough in Wadkar’s scalp. The Vidarbha captain chased a delivery, trying to slash it and ended up giving a simple catch to wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan. 

In RoI second essay, Vidarbha bowlers were right on the money but for Malewar who had a bad day in slips. But lanky pacer Thakare gave Vidarbha breakthrough with the wicket of Aryan Juyal off a beautiful delivery which moved enough to miss the batter’s bat and rattled the stumps.

Dubey then trapped Yash Dhull in front to give Vidarbha second wicket. With the final day pitch crumbling, it would be just a matter of time for Vidarbha to lift their third Irani Cup on Sunday.