Irani Cup: Gurbani, Wankhade propel Vidarbha

Nagpur, March 17: Vidarbha tightened their grip on the Irani Cup through their bowlers on the fourth day of the match against Rest of India here on Saturday (March 17).

Vidarbha declared their innings at a massive 800 for 7 as Apoorv Wankhade, overnight 99, became the third centurion of the innings. He made an unbeaten 157 off 221 balls with 16 fours and six sixes.

Vidarbha declare at 800-7 in the #IraniCup; here's where their performance stands in terms of big totals in the history of Indian domestic #cricket.#VIDvROI pic.twitter.com/26rjfHkic3

— Arun Gopalakrishnan (@statanalyst) March 17, 2018

Vidarbha bowlers then found some life in the pitch that appeared so docile when they batted to reduce RoI to 236 for six at close.

The main wrecker was pacer Rajneesh Gurbani, who picked up four wickets conceding 46 runs. His victims were - R Samarth, Karun Nair, KS Bharat and R Ashwin as at one stage RoI were 98 for six and on the brink of an embarrassing low score.

However, Gade Hanuma Vihari and Jayant Yadav added 138 runs for the seventh wicket to rescue RoI from total disaster. Vihari was batting on 81 (171b, 8x4) and Yadav on 62 (147b, 9x4) when the proceedings of the day came to a close.

The third day of the match was marred by rain and bad light but on this day there was no such worries as sun beat down in all its glory, helping a timely start.

Wankhade did not lose much time in completing his hundred and went on to pummel RoI bowlers to bring up his 150 as well. Eventually, Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal called his players back when the team total touched 800, signalling the declaration.

If you need to score 800 runs, either you don't rate your bowlers too highly or you don't care too much for the match you are playing.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 17, 2018

The strategy was clear - bat big and bat once, though it invited some sharp words from social media.

However, the effort Gurbani with the ball vindicated Vidarbha's call. The pacer found bounce and movement off the pitch to trouble RoI batsmen as their frontline caved in without much resistance.

VIDEO: Rajneesh Gurbani's booming in swinger catches KS Bharat unaware. Take a look at the special delivery here. https://t.co/BnrEzWYPnU

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) March 17, 2018

Now into the fifth day to complete formalities before holding that silverware.