Vidarbha vs Kerala Highlights, Ranji Trophy Final Day 2: Aditya Sarwate Leads Charge As Kerala Reach 131/3 vs VID

All in readiness for Day 4 to begin! The umpires are out in the middle and so are the players of Kerala. It will be the pairing of Parth Rekhade and Dhruv Shorey to open the second innings for Vidarbha. MD Nidheesh has the new ball in hand and is raring to go. Let's play...

PITCH REPORT - Chetan Sharma is pitchside. He starts by saying that as the days go by, the bowlers come more and more into the game. Salil Ankola joins him and says that there is still some grass on it but adds that the footmarks have started to open up. They mention that the spinners will come into play more on Day 4.

Harsh Dubey, the record-breaking wicket-taker, is down for a chat. Harsh says that it is a great feeling to break that record and he only tried to contribute to the team. Adds that in the off-season, he focuses more on his batting but whenever he plays practice matches, he looks to play at a hundred percent. On Ravichandran Ashwin, he says that he learnt a lot from him about cricket and even about life. Mentions that he tries to apply whatever is in the back of his mind and says that his idol is Ravindra Jadeja. Ends by saying that he really enjoys batting and focuses more on it in the off-season.

Vidarbha have a marginal lead of 37 runs and the onus is on them to dictate terms from here on and make make Kerala play on their song. It won’t be easy as Kerala bowled well in the first innings and would be confident to take the 10 wickets again. Vidarbha though will be keen to put on a strong performance and start Day 4 well. An exciting first session is coming up. Stay tuned.

Hello everyone to the action of Day 4 between Vidarbha and Kerala. It’s hard to say who’s on top at this point but after the end of Day 3, we could say Vidarbha have got an edge over their foes. The wicket of Baby was the most pivotal moment of the day as before that Kerala were cruising through looking to clear the first innings lead but once Baby fell on 98, wickets started to fall and runs got choked. Dubey was the pick for Vidarbha as once again as he done throughout the tournament led the bowling pack from the front.

...Day 4, Session 1...

Aditya Sarwate and Sachin Baby were excellent with the bat but they needed one of the two to score a big ton. The few others got starts but couldn't convert. They failed to build massive stands and whenever it looked like there would be one which would go big, it was broken. Kerala will now need to bowl Vidarbha out quickly whereas Vidarbha will want to bat for as long as possible. Day 4 promises to be an exciting one. Do join us for it. Till then, take care and goodbye!

Vidarbha managed to take a slender but important first-inning lead! The key for them was wickets at regular intervals. Darshan Nalkande, Harsh Dubey and Parth Rekhade all got three each. Whenever there was a partnership building, they managed to get a wicket and that has helped them take the lead.

OUT! Timber! Kerala have been bowled out and Vidarbha have a first innings lead here! On middle. Flatter. Eden looks to go across the line but misses and this hits the stumps.

On middle. Kept out.

Fuller and on off. This is driven to covers.

On middle. Blocked.

Around off. Kept out.

FOUR! Nice and fine! Outside off. Eden waits and then guides it past short third man. This one races away to the fence.

Around off. This is pushed to cover.

On middle. Kept out.

On middle. Kept out.

Fuller and on off. This is pushed to cover.

On middle. Blocked.

On middle. Kept out.