Vidarbha start with a 6

By Paritosh Pramanik

Oct 14, 2026

ON THE eve of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A opener, Vidarbha coach Usman Ghani had said the team would go for an outright victory but before that they will have to take the first innings lead. 

“Yes, we want to start with outright win. but first thing first....we want to take first innings lead and then see how we can register outright win,” Ghani had told ‘The Hitavada’ 

The team did the same. After taking 115 runs first innings lead, Vidarbha spinners spun their web as they bundled out Pondicherry for 130 runs in their second innings to record a thumping 160 runs victory and start their campaign on a winning note here at VCA Jamtha Stadium. Vidarbha captain Akshay Wadkar, who hit a career-best 198, was declared player of the match. 

Vidarbha next play defending champions Jammu and Kashmir at Srinagar from October 18.

Three-times Ranji champions Vidarbha gave a 290 runs target to Pondicherry after they declared their second innings at 175-3 just 19 minutes before lunch on the fourth day. Harsh Dubey and Parth Rekhade took six wickets each in the match while part-timer Aman Mokhade snared five as the slow bowlers took 17 out of 22 Pondicherry wickets to falls.

India spinner Dubey immediately gave the breakthrough taking two wickets in team’s second and his first over.

While Dubey ended with four scalps, it was part-timer Aman Mokhade who delivered with his slow deliveries on time.

There were some good catching as well as Dhruv Shorey and Nachiket Bhute threw their bodies to take diving catches. While Shorey got Mohit Kale, who returned to bat after getting retired hurt and Bhute grabbed wicketkeeper Prasad Pawar who was batting strong on 48.

Parth Rekhade, who got the wicket of rival captain Neyan Kangayan earlier in the day, cleaned up the tail taking wickets of Gaurav Yadav and Vijai Raja.

Earlier, Resuming at 22-1 on the final day, Vidarbha scored at a brisk rate with Aman Mokhade (65) and Dhruv Shorey (69) adding 122 runs for the third wicket.

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Wadkar, Dubey achieve personal milestones

Vidarbha’s thumping 160 runs win over Pondicherry also saw a couple of records made on the final day of the Ranji Trophy Group ‘A’ match here at Jamtha Stadium.

Akshay Wadkar became the most successful captain of Vidarbha in terms of outright wins recorded in Ranji Trophy.

The 32-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Wadkar registered 21st outright victory as a captain on Wednesday.

The previous best was by former Ranji Trophy captain Faiz Fazal who had 20 outright wins under his belt. Former spinner Pritam Gandhe had recorded nine outright wins.

From 29 matches as captain, Wadkar has two draws and two defeats. This is his sixth season as Vidarbha captain. He has so far played 69 First-Class matches.

Another Vidarbha player southpaw Harsh Dubey achieved a personal milestone by claiming 150th wicket in First-Class cricket. The wicket of Pondicherry vice-captain Aman Khan was Dubey’s 150th scalp. This season, left-arm orthodox Dubey has taken 14 wickets from two First-Class matches.

He snared eight wickets for Central Zone during the Duleep Trophy semi-final against East Zone and against Pondicherry in Nagpur, he took six wickets in the match forcing India selectors to take note of his performance.