Faiz slams season’s fifth ton, Wankhade hits maiden century as Vidarbha on verge of historic Ranji semis

SURAT: When you have your rival by the scruff of their neck, throw them out of the contest. Vidarbha did exactly that on Sunday. Faiz Fazal & Co. took the life out of a hapless Kerala attack to firmly put a foot in the Ranji semifinal.
The sight of a long-awaited historical moment makes many lose the focus. Having learned this lesson the hard way in their first innings, Vidarbha batsmen put up a multi-improved show on Sunday piling up 431 for 6.With an overall lead of 501 runs, it’s just a matter of time and formality for Vidarbha to be among the last four of the Ranji Trophy.
As often has been in this season, it was Faiz who laid the foundation of the Vidarbha’s big total. The skipper scored a measured century in the morning session. The ton, Faiz’s fifth of a prolific season, turned the screw on the Kerala attack. Later in the day, Apoorv Wankhade blazed his way to a maiden Ranji ton to throw Kerala out of the contest.
The Lalbhai Contractor Stadium has seen both the teams finish an innings each, without the total going past the 250-mark. Faiz with his solid knock and two crucial partnerships ensured that the Vidarbha's second innings didn’t suffer a similar fate.
Southpaw Faiz batted like a dream and didn’t put a foot wrong till he decided to play an out-of-character reverse sweep. The opener failed to make contact with the ball which ballooned up and was pocketed by wicketkeeper Sanju Samson.
But by then the skipper had done his job. He first added 90 runs with nightwatchman Akshay Wakhare and later had a crucial 74-run partnership with Wasim Jaffer to take the score to 217.
Jaffer didn’t waste much time in notching up another Ranji fifty, taking Vidarbha’s lead to 337 before chopping a Nidheesh MD delivery on to the stumps.
The stage was perfectly set up for Wankhade, a limited-over specialist, to show his batting prowess. With the security of the big lead, Wankhade had a license to go for the kill.
When he walked out to bat, Satish was on 24. Soon Wankhade overtook his partner and was the first among the two to reach half-century. Before the quarterfinal, Wankhade had four matches this season.
The tall, strapping batsman had just 96 runs in those matches, still the selectors showed faith in him. Wankhade with his blasting knock vindicated the selector’s decision. He hit all the Kerala spinners long out of the ground as he raced to his maiden first class ton in just 90 balls.
The Wankhade onslaught of the afternoon was preceded by a sublime batting show put up by Faiz in the earlier part of the day. The left-hand bat was hardly troubled by any Kerala bowler as he took Vidarbha to a position of strength.
Wakhare on the other hand managed to stay on the pitch for almost one-and-half hour. The nightwatchman was helped a lot by the opponent’s largesse. Wakhare got three reprieves during his 54-ball stay on wicket on Sunday. It looked like Kerala, by then had already given up the battle.
Warrier induced an edge from Wakhare on successive deliveries. But on both occasions the slip cordon grassed the chances. Later, Wakhare gave charge to Akshay KC and offered the easiest of stumping to the wicketkeeper. But Samson despite having all the time in the world failed to hold on to the ball. The morning session gave all the clues as to what was in store for Kerala throughout the day.