Ranji Trophy Highlights, Day 4 Semifinal 2024: Late wickets put Vidarbha on top against Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh ends the day at 228/6, needing 93 more runs for a win. Vidarbha fought back with some late wickets, with its spinners coming into the game late in the day. 

An exciting final day on cards. 

A rare loosener from Sarvate. Sararnsh rocks onto his back foot to employ the cut shot. FOUR!!

Last ball of the over. Sarwate floats one in. Dubey swipes across the line and the ball pops up off his pads. Easy catch at silly point. 

Yash Dubey c sub (MR Kale) b Sarwate 94 (212b 10x4 0x6)

Sarwate and Umesh Yadav bring MP’s run flow even further down. Just five runs from the last four overs as Yash Dubey and Saransh Jain look to take Vidarbha to the fifth day without any more damages. The target is now 101 runs. 

Sarwate and Wakhare continue to put the pressure on. No easy runs on offer for Yash Dubey and new batter Saransh Jain. Drinks taken. 

Umesh Yadav returns for a late spell. He has had an expensive outing so far today. 

Sarvate with the ball now for Vidarbha. MP batters start off with a couple of singles against the left-arm spinner. 

Wakhare goes around the wicket against Iyer. Squeezes and outside edge out of him. Superb reflex catch by Karun Nair at first slip. 

Venkatesh Iyer c Nair b Wakhare 19 (35b 2x4 1x6)

Yash Thakur replaces Thakare. Just a single by Yash Dubey in that over. 

Wakhare continues from the other end. Another tidy over in for Vidarbha. Just two runs. Full from Thakur and Venkatesh pushes it through covers for a four. 

Full from Thakare and Venkatesh crashes it through covers for his first four of the innings. 

Now, Wakhare drops it short and Venkatesh Iyer picks the length early. Pulled away for a six. Positive start from the left-handed batter. 

Venkatesh Iyer is the new batter for Madhya Pradesh. Watchful for the rest of the over. MP would love it if Venkatesh can stick along with Yash Dubey for the rest of the day. 

Wakhare and Thakare bowling in tandem now. 

Sarvate returns for Vidarbha. The left-arm spinner goes across the wicket and holds Yash Dubey down for a maiden. 

Wakhare pitches it up and Shubham Sharma tries to go over the top. He can’t clear the fielder at mid on. 

Shubham Sharma c (sub)Mohit Kale b Wakhare 6(9)

MP 165/4 vs VID at TEA

Sagar Solanki is the new batter for Madhya Pradesh. He gets going with boundaries against Akshay Wakhare and Umesh Yadav. 

Vidarbha in dire need of wickets to stay alive in this match and Wakhare delivers for his side. The offie comes around the wicket and sets up the left-handed Solanki with a straighter one. Given LBW!!

Sagar Solanki lbw b Wakhare 12 (26b 2x4 0x6)

Too full and on the pads from Yash Thakur. All too easy for Dubey to trickle it past the keeper for a four. 

Umesh Yadav returns and he too gives away a boundary to Yash Dubey, who is growing in confidence. 

Big blow for Madhya Pradesh!

Yash Thakur leaves it hanging outside the off stump and Gawli has a poke at it. Edged and an easy catch for Wadkar. 

Harsh Gawli c †Wadkar b Yash Thakur 67 (80b 11x4 0x6)

Yash Thakur back into the attack after giving away 30 runs from his first three overs. He starts off well though. Gives away just a single off his first over after Lunch. 

Sarvate continues to plug on from the other end, 

Sarwate with a maiden over against Yash Dubey. Vidarbha has succeeded in reigning in Madhya Pradesh’s run rate. 

Thakare from the other end. A double from Gawli to start the over with. Last ball of the over, Thakare misses his line and Dubey puts it away for a four.

Sedate stuff from the Madhya Pradesh batters after going at a breakneck pace earlier. 

Thakare swings one away just enough to get an edge out of Gawli. But it runs away for a four through the off side. And that brings up his fifty and MP’s 100. 

Vidarbha will look to stem MP’s run flow in the second session. Thakare with the first over of the session for the bowling side. 

The boundaries keep coming for Gawli and Dubey. Yash Thakur the culprit for Vidarbha as MP’s chase hurtles forward at faster than five runs an over. 

Yash Thakur has given away five fours in two overs, with Gawli scoring all five. 

MP 86/1 vs VID at Lunch

On drive from Dubey. Taide tries to make a diving stop at extra cover. He misses the ball and looks like he has injured his arm in the process. The physio is on the ground and he escorts Taide out of the ground. 

Wide from Sarwate and Dubey slashes at it off his back foot. FOUR MORE FOR THE MP OPENER!

Thakare replaces the wayward Umesh Yadav from the other end. Accurate start from the right-arm pace. He is not offering much width for the MP batters to work with. Just three runs from his first two overs. 

Umesh Yadav misses his line once again. Yash Dubey happily ticks it off his pads for another four. Easy runs these for the MP opener. 

MP No.3 Harsh Gawli gets going with a cut shot against Sarwate. FOUR!!

On the pads from Umesh Yadav. Easily tucked away for a four to backward square leg by Yash Dubey. 

Sarvate continues from the other end. Looped up from the left-arm spinner and Mantri decides to jump out of his crease and loft it over long on. No timing there and it rockets high into the sky. Thakare circles under it and completes a splendid catch. 

Himanshu Mantri c Thakare b Sarwate 8 (18b 0x4 0x6)

Confident start from MP opener Yash Dubey. Couple of fours against Umesh Yadav of the first over. 

Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate from the other end for Vidarbha. Just two runs from his first over. 

Yash Rathod shows no signs of stopping. He now takes on the high-on-confidence Anubhav Agarwal. Couple of sixes added to his tally. Rathod is now farming the strike, away from last-man Thakare. 

Rathod tries to take on Khejroliya with a leg-side hoick. Inside edge and onto the stumps. 

Yash Rathod b Khejroliya 141 (200b 18x4 2x6)

MP needs 320 runs to win.

Sharp and accurate from Anubhav Agarwal as he accounts for Yash Thakur and Umesh Yadav with back-to-back deliveries. 

Yash Thakur c Gawli b Agarwal 2 (8b 0x4 0x6)

Umesh Yadav b Agarwal 0 (1b 0x4 0x6)

Sarwate goes for one shot too many. He fails to middle one against Agarwal and Venkatesh Iyer completes a good catch in the deep. 

Aditya Sarwate c Iyer b Agarwal 21 (24b 4x4 0x6)

Terrific start to the day from Vidarbha’ overnight batters. Rathod and Sarwate have been positive and are pressing their side’s lead to the 300-run mark without taking a wrong step. Sarwate now takes on Anubhav Agarwal with a sumptuos cover drive. FOUR MORE!!

A flurry of boundaries from Vidarbha to start the day with. 

Yash Rathod strikes one on the up and it runs away a four and that brings up his hundred. 

The fifties from Akshay Wadkar and Yash Rathod in the face of an impending crisis not only held Vidarbha through the third day but also put it in the driver’s seat in the first Ranji Trophy semifinal against Madhya Pradesh at the VCA Stadium (Civil Lines) in Nagpur on Monday.

Their 158-run sixth-wicket alliance started when Vidarbha was staring down the barrel, five down at 161, merely 59 runs ahead in the second innings. The pair’s session-and-a-half-long defiance saw Vidarbha safely through at 343 for six by close of play, 261 runs ahead.