Ranji Trophy: Vidarbha Close In On Victory After Akshay Wadkar's Maiden Ton

Faiz Fazal-led Vidarbha inched closer to their maiden Ranji Trophy title as they ended day three of their final against Delhi with a commanding 233-run lead at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore on Sunday. Vidarbha wicket-keeper Akhsay Wadkar, playing the fifth match of his first season, helped his team amass a massive 528 for seven at stumps as he scored his maiden first-class century. Wadkar remained unbeaten on 133 off 243 balls. During his innings, Wadkar hit 16 boundaries and one six. Wadkar was ably supported by Siddhesh Neral, who entertained the crowd with his 92-ball half-century as he hit four boundaries and as many sixes. Delhi were bowled out for 295 in their first innings.

Aditya Sarwate, with whom Wadkar stitched a decisive 169-run partnership for the seventh wicket, contributed a handsome 79 off 154 balls at the Holkar Stadium that witnessed a decent turnout.

Vidarbha, who resumed their innings at overnight 206 for four, showed the intent from the beginning and capitalised on Delhi's lack of discretion and enthusiasm.

The seven-time winners looked shoddy on the field, dropped catches, including a crucial one off the blade of seasoned Wasim Jaffer (78) at the start of the day.

Rishabh Pant lacked ideas as the skipper of the side and his outing behind the stumps left a lot to be desired. He was also guilty of missing a stumping chance.

But Delhi may have paid dearly for the miss by Kunal Chandela in a second slip in the fourth ball of the day's first over. Running in hard and hitting the deck harder, a charged up Navdeep Saini had induced an edge from Jaffer but Chandela, who dived to his left ahead of first slip fielder Dhruv Shorey, spilled the catch.

Jaffer may have added only 17 runs after the reprieve, but by the time he got out after an hour and a half stay in the middle, Saini was tiring following an extended first spell that saw him bowl 10.5 overs for two wickets.

The young pacer, who often hit the early 140s, was thus deprived of a chance to run through the Vidarbha lower-order.

Eventually, it was Saini who sent back Jaffer, the multiple-time Ranji Trophy winners with Mumbai, when he caught him plumb in front of the wicket with a ball that came in slightly.

While Delhi lacked zest, Vidarbha gradually sought to take control of the game, and the dismissal of Jaffer for 78 did not affect them.

That was primarily due to the duo of Wadkar and Sarwate, who played smarty to wear down the bowlers and fielders and take the match away from their opponents.

The 23-year-old Wadkar laced his innings with 16 boundaries and a six straight over left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra's head.

The lack of quality spin options hurt Delhi as the bulk of the load was shared by the pace duo of Saini and Kulwant Khejroliya on an unresponsive pitch.

Akash Sudan was far from impressive and posed no threat to the Vidarbha batsmen.

Delhi's cause was not helped by the fact that Manan Sharma was off the field for a long time, curtailing further the team's spin options.

Veteran Gautam Gambhir was conspicuous by his absence after lunch and that also did not help either, as the young Pant looked bereft of ideas. The out-of-favour India opener also dropped a catch off Vikas Mishra at first slip, the beneficiary being Sarwate.

It was later learnt that Gambhir has sustained a finger injury while fielding.

Meanwhile, Wadkar got to the three-figure mark with a confident smack over the mid-on fielder, as his family members in the stands rose to applaud.

Riding on his good fortune, Neral clobbered the Delhi bowlers even as no balls saved him twice off the bowling of Khejroliya.

While they racked up 130 runs in the first session for two wickets, Vidarbha strengthened their grip further with Wadkar and Sarwate first and then Neral joining the party.