Irani Trophy 2018, Day 4, Review: Gurbani's four wicket haul keeps Vidarbha on top

After a rain-affected third day in the ongoing Irani Trophy 2018, the penultimate day saw some uninterrupted action. Team Vidarbha started off the day with a commanding grip on the game. And as the game stands by the end of day 4, they still have a strong hold on the proceedings. Despite this, the team would believe that they have missed out the trick somewhere.

Considering the fact that it rained on the third day, the team should have declared a little earlier than the time they actually decided to do so. Now, their bowlers are left with an uphill task of taking 14 wickets on the final day to seal the game for the side. Coming to the fourth day, Vidarbha had 702 runs on the board. This was a result of a fine 286 from Wasim Jaffer in the innings.

Also, Ganesh Satish had scored a crucial 120, while Faiz Fazal and Sanjay Ramaswamy scored individual fifties. On the fourth day, Apoor Wankhade resumed batting on his overnight score of 99. He got off to his century and then continued to bat along till he reached the next milestone – the 150. In the meantime, the part time of Mayank Agarwal dismissed Aditya Sarwate (18).

Also, Hanuma Vihari dismissed Akshay Wakhare on a duck. The tactics of the Vidarbhan side was beyond the comprehensible levels. They kept playing on the penultimate day till they touched the 800-run mark. They eventually declared on 800/7 as Wankhade remained unbeaten on 157. The Rest of India were batted out of the match. But they certainly could have shown a better performance than what they did in the first innings. Perhaps, the rain on the previous day brought some life in the track.

Poor start to ROI innings

ROI had an early jolt in the innings with Rajneesh Gurbani dismissing R Samarth for a duck in the second over of the game. The wicket of Mayank Agarwal (11) fell soon after with Umesh Yadav striking early as well. Karun Nair (21) and Prithwi Shaw (51) showed brief resistance with the bat but the partnership was broken by Aditya Thakare who dismissed Shaw at a crucial juncture. Nair followed him soon afted and S Bharat (0) and Ravichandran Ashwin (8) had short stays as well. At 98/6, ROI had Vidarbha bowlers all over them.

Vihari, Jayant steady the ship

The ROI innings needed a serious rebuild. Hanuma Vihari and Jayant Yadav proved vital in the cause. The two batsmen showed great character to keep ROI interested in the match. They added an unbeaten 138 run stand for the seventh wicket by the end of the day’s play. ROI finished with 236/6 at stumps with Vihari scoring an unbeaten 81 (171) and Jayant Yadav unbeaten on 62 (147).

Brief Scores

Vidarbha 800/7 in 226.3 overs (Jaffer 286, Wankhade 157*, Kaul 2/91, Mayank 1/21)

Rest of India 236/6 in 77 overs (Vihari 81*, Jayant 62*, Gurbani 4/46, Thakare 1/35)

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