By Paritosh Pramanik
NAGPUR, Nov 19
DARSHAN Nalkande bowled a deadly opening spell in the second innings to take Vidarbha closer to the doors of an outright victory against Baroda on the penultimate day of their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy match here at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium on Tuesday.
Chasing a stiff target of 276, Baroda were 73 for five at stumps, still needing 203 runs for a shocking win. Table toppers Vidarbha, sitting in the driver’s seat, need only five wickets for an outright victory.
Sukirt Pandey (35) and left-handed batter Ninad Rathva (10) were occupying the stumps at the end of day’s play.
Nalkande devoured Baroda’s top order with pace and precision taking four wickets in his first five overs as Baroda reeled at 17-4. His first spell read 6-3-7-4. This included a staggering 32 dot balls.
The seamer, who did not get a wicket in first innings, trapped Baroda opener Shivalik Sharma in front in his second delivery.
Jyotnil Singh’s bails flew in the air as Nalkande pitched the ball at the right length which the batter missed. Aman Mokhade then took a brilliant diving catch of Shashwat Rawat at gully to give Nalkande his third wicket. Baroda were in all sorts of trouble with only seven runs on the board. They panicked as Nalkande dictated terms.
Nalkande, after a quiet over, got his fourth scalp trapping Vishnu Solanki plumb in front as Baroda tumbled to 17 for four by the 10th over.
From the other end, seamer Nachiket Bhute kept pressure on the visiting team. He was unlucky as his deliveries missed the bat from a kissing distance.
Parth Rekhade took the fifth Baroda wicket when he got Mitesh Patel caught by Mokhade at slips for 16 runs.
Earlier, Yash Rathod continued his purple patch with another half century (91) as Vidarbha improved their batting performance scoring 272 runs. Rathod missed out on what could have been his third century of the season but along with Ravikumar Samarth, added 128 runs for the fourth wicket, to put Vidarbha in command.
Resuming the day at 126 for three, Rathod and Samarth made batting look easy on a deteriorating pitch.
Rathod, last season’s highest runs scorer in Ranji Trophy, looked determined to score another big one. The left-handed 25-year-old batter showed how to bat on a fourth innings track scoring his career’s 11th half-century as Vidarbha gained the upper hand.
He got an able ally in Samarth who supported him to take Vidarbha to a position of strength. Samarth, picked runs through gaps even as Rathod mixed his batting with caution and aggression.
Samarth, who has scored two half centuries this season apart from a 49 in the first game against Nagaland, hit just one boundary in his 45 runs. Most of his runs came through singles pushed in gaps. Their 145 runs partnership put Vidarbha in control as Baroda bowlers toil hard in the morning session. But when it looked that Vidarbha would take lunch without losing any wicket Raj Limbani trapped Samarth in front of the wicket. At lunch Vidarbha were 231 for four taking their overall lead to 234.
Rathod was unlucky not to complete his century after lunch as Shivalik Sharma caught him at forward short-leg off Bhargav Bhatt when the batter stepped out to push a single.
After Rathod’s departure at 243-5, Vidarbha lower order could muster only 29 runs to get all out for 272. Baroda captain Atit Sheth took a fifer, four of his wickets being of the tailenders.
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