Wadkar, Thakare keep Vidarbha in game against Gujarat

NAGPUR: Second ball of the day, left-arm pacer Roosh Kalaria bowled right on good length and let wicket to do its bit. The ball came in sharply and hit Vidarbha skipper Faiz Fazal's front flap. A review might have saved him but it wasn't there.
The umpire raised the finger that shocked the Vidarbha dressing room, which was hoping for the fifth-wicket stand to carry on.Half the Vidarbha side was back in the pavilion with the lead of only 20 runs. Gujarat seamers looked good to wrap up the Vidarbha innings under 150.
Akshay Wadkar, however, yet again showed why he loves crisis situations. The Vidarbha wicketkeeper- batsman stood like a rock and scored runs when his team desperately needed them. Vidarbha again experimented by promoting Akshay Wakhare ahead of all-rounder Aditya Sarvate. It had worked well in the past but not on Wednesday. Wakhare, who had batted well against Punjab, could contribute only 5.
It was left to Wadkar and Sarvate to bail Vidarbha out of trouble. The Navniketan Club pair put up a fighting 82-run stand that brought Vidarbha back in the match. Their dogged batting helped Vidarbha reach 247 in their second innings on Day 3 of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'A' match at Laljibhai Contractor Stadium in Surat.
Medium pacer Aditya Thakare then showed why he is rated so highly by the experts. His Zonal Cricket Academy coach P Krishnakumar, former Rajasthan captain, compares him to Australian great Glenn McGrath because of lengths Thakare bowls. The 21-year-old continued from where he had left in the first innings and picked all the four Gujarat wickets to fall in their second innings as they were chasing 179 for an outright victory. The hosts ended the day at 74-4 in their second innings needing further 105 for the victory. Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel, who is also their batting mainstay, is yet to come.
The day, however, belonged to Wadkar and Thakare. While the former soaked the pressure in tough conditions against an in-form pace attack, the latter showed he is taking First Class cricket like a fish to the water. Vidarbha revival started with Wadkar-Sarvate stand. Sarvate started playing strokes early on, realizing mere blocking won't do any good for Vidarbha. It pushed Gujarat to backfoot. By the lunch, Vidarbha lead was more than 100. However, a horrible mix-up between the two resulted in Sarvate's run out but not before he had made a responsible 53 (73b, 9x4).
Wadkar then had another fighting stand of 38 with Lalit Yadav, who played useful hands of 27 (57b, 3x4). Wadkar was cleaned up by Chintan Gaja when he was looking set for his hundred. However, Lalit's knock took Vidarbha close to 250-run mark that looked improbable when they lost four wickets for 25 on Tuesday.
Vidarbha would be hoping to exploit early morning conditions to their advantage. They would also be hoping for a match-winning performance from their star pacer Umesh Yadav. This might be his last First Class match before he heads to New Zealand for the Test series and he would love to take Vidarbha across finishing line.
SCOREBOARD
Vidarbha (1st Innings): 142.
Gujarat (1st Innings): 211.
VIdarbha (2nd Innings; overnight 89-4): Faiz Fazal lbw b Kalaria 45, Akshay Wadkar b Gaja 87, Akshay Wakhare c P Patel b Gaja 5, Aditya Sarvate run out (Gandhi) 53, Lalit Yadav lbw b Kalaria 27, Umesh Yadav c Gandhi b Nagwaswalla 8, Aditya Thakare not out 0.
Extras: (lb 10, nb 7) 17.
Total: (All out, 98.3 Overs) 247.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-4, 3-17, 4-25, 5-89, 6-104, 7-186, 8-224, 9-247.
Bowling: Roosh Kalaria 29-13-62-4, Chintan Gaja 29-12-68-3, Arzan Nagwaswalla 22.3-5-59-2, Rujul Bhatt 2-1-1-0, Siddhartha Desai 16-3-47-0.
Gujarat (2nd Innings): Samit Gohel lbw b Thakare 3, Bhargav Merai lbw b Thakare 23, Rujul Bhatt c Choudhari b Thakare 12, Kshitij Patel lbw b Thakare 4, Manpreet Juneja batting 27, Roosh Kalaria batting 2.
Extras: (b 1, lb 2) 3.
Total: (4 wkts, 29 Overs) 74.
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-26, 3-32, 4-65.
Bowling: Aditya Thakare 12-4-17-4, Lalit Yadav 6-0-20-0, Umesh Yadav 7-1-26-0, Aditya Sarwate 4-0-8-0.