Aditya Sarwate takes six as Gujarat collapse for 54 chasing 73

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Vidarbha 74 (Sanjay 33, Tejas 5-19, Gaja 5-51) and 254 (Jitesh 69, Taide 44, Siddharth 6-74) beat Gujarat 256 (Aarya 88, Merai 40, Sarwate 5-64) and 54 (Siddharth 18, Sarwate 6-17) by 18 runs

Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate picked up 6 for 17 to help Vidarbha bowl out Gujarat for 54 and defend 73 on a dramatic third morning of their Ranji Trophy game in Jamtha. It was the lowest target defended successfully in first-class cricket in India; the previous lowest was 78, defended by Bihar against Delhi in Jamshedpur in 1948-49.

Jamtha is also the venue for the first India-Australia Test, starting February 9. That game, though, will be played on one of the centre pitches, while this match was played on a side pitch.

On Wednesday, Siddharth Desai, another left-arm spinner, had taken 6 for 74 to limit Vidarbha to 254. At that time, a Gujarat win looked like a mere formality, even though they went to stumps at 6 for 1.

Sarwate, however, had other ideas. Having taken a five-for in the first innings, he ran through Gujarat’s line-up once again on Thursday. He was supported by Harsh Dubey, also a left-arm spinner, who took 3 for 11. Siddharth, run out for 18, was the only Gujarat batter to reach the double digits.

Sarwate was named Player of the Match for his career-best haul of 11 for 81.

After their latest victory, Vidarbha are now joint-second with Punjab in Group D. Punjab, though, are likely to claim the sole second spot, having enforced follow-on in their game against table-toppers Madhya Pradesh.

Vidarbha’s final game of the group round is against Punjab, which could decide who make it to the knockouts.

This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.

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