Vidarbha continued to hold the upper hand on the proceedings on Day 2 against Goa in their Ranji Trophy Elite cricket match, reaching 217 for 3 in 74 overs and moving closer to securing a first-innings lead. Earlier, Goa’s first innings ended at 220 in 93.5 overs. The match is being played at the VCA-Jamtha Stadium in Nagpur.
Resuming at their overnight score of 204 for 8, Goa added just 16 runs on Tuesday before being bowled out. Yash Kasvankar remained unbeaten on 63, facing 212 balls and hitting five boundaries. Vidarbha’s Nachiket Bhute was the most successful bowler, claiming five wickets for 48 runs.
Vidarbha did not get off to a good start with the bat. Experienced pacer Vasuki Kaushik made an early breakthrough with the new ball, dismissing Satyam Bhoyar for two. Aman Mokhade (39) and R. Samarth (53) then added 58 runs for the second wicket.
After Mokhade’s dismissal, Samarth and Dhruv Shorey put together 60 runs for the third wicket. When Samarth departed, Vidarbha were placed at 124 for 3 and still had work to do.
Shorey, unbeaten on 63, and Danish Malewar, unbeaten on 51, then steadied the innings with an unbroken 93-run fourth-wicket partnership, taking Vidarbha to the brink of a first-innings lead.
For Goa, Vasuki Koushik took two wickets for 27 runs, while Ruthvik Naik took one wicket for 27 runs.
Scorecard:
Goa, 1st innings: Resuming at 204 for 8 — Yash Kasvankar not out 63, Vasuki Koushik c Akshay Wadkar b Rajneesh Gurbani 6, Shubham Tari c Akshay Wadkar b Nachiket Bhute 0, Extras 25, Total all out in 93.5 overs 220.
Bowling: Harsh Dubey 19-3-48-1, Nachiket Bhute 21.5-4-48-5, Yash Thakur 15-3-35-0, Rajneesh Gurbani 20-7-33-3, Parth Rekhade 15-3-31-1, Aman Mokhade 3-1-4-0.
Vidarbha, 1st innings: Satyam Bhoyar c Shubham Tari b Vasuki Koushik 2, Aman Mokhade c Shivendra Bhujbal b Ruthvik Naik 39, Ravikumar Samarth c Shivendra Bhujbal b Vasuki Koushik 53, Dhruv Shorey not out 63, Danish Malewar not out 51, Extras 9, Total 217 for 3 in 74 overs.
Bowling: Vasuki Koushik 18-7-27-2, Ruthvik Naik 16-2-27-1, Shubham Tari 15-1-56-0, Yash Kasvankar 7-0-33-0, Darshan Misal 10-0-33-0, Lalit Yadav 7-1-30-0, Suyash Prabhudessai 1-0-3-0.
