Irani Cup 2025: Vidarbha inches closer to third title, inflicts early damage on Rest of India

Vidarbha displayed its fighting instincts in plenty as its lower order virtually shut the door on Rest of India on Day 4 of the Irani Cup encounter against Rest of India at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, on Saturday.

Thanks to captain Akshay Wadkar’s rescue act along with the tail, Vidarbha prevented RoI from clawing its way back into the team by setting up a stiff target of 361 in four sessions on a pitch that has rapidly turned into a spinner’s paradise.

In yet another rain-curtailed last session, Aditya Thakare exposed Aryan Juyal’s defence with a peach that crashed into middle- and off-stump before left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey trapped Abhimanyu Easwaran in front of the wickets with an arm ball.

At stumps on the penultimate day, RoI was reeling at 30 for two, with captain Rajat Patidar and Ishan Kishan having survived an anxious 34 minutes together.

Had Danish Malewar in the cordon not dropped three catches off Abhimanyu’s blade – on 0 and 4 off successive deliveries in Dubey’s opening over of the innings and on 10 off Thakare in the next – Vidarbha may have inched closer to its third Irani Cup title.

Vidarbha started the day with a lead of 224 and eight wickets in hand. RoI had to stage a collapse in a bid to give itself an outside chance. Anshul Kamboj was charged up, running through the Vidarbha middle-order.

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In a spell that read 5-1-12-3, Kamboj dismissed Malewar (caught off the inside-edge), leftie Yash Rathod (went after a full one to nick behind) and Dhruv Shorey (ruled out lbw off one that jagged back in).

As a result, after the first half hour, Vidarbha had lost three wickets for just nine runs. Captain Wadkar then stitched together vital partnerships with Dubey (39 for the sixth wicket) and Darshan Nalkande (35 for the eighth) to take the fizz out of the RoI attack.

Besides adding 127 runs combined, the last five Vidarbha wickets also batted four and a half hours before Nalkande (35, 92b, 1×4, 1×6) ran out of patience and missed offie Saransh Jain’s arm-ball in what would have been the last over of the second session that was extended by 30 minutes.

Published on Oct 04, 2025