Ranji Trophy 2022-23: Vidarbha create history; Bowls out Gujarat for 54 runs to defend lowest total in tournament history

Vidarbha and Gujarat took on each other in a group D encounter in Nagpur. The third day of the game in Nagpur saw Vidarbha bowl out Gujarat for just 54 runs and created history by defending just 73. It broke the record for the lowest total defended in the history of Indian first-class cricket.

Vidarbha broke Bihar’s previously defended score of 78 against Delhi in Jamshedpur that dates back to the  1948–1949.

Gujarat take the upper hand

Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Vidarbha could not capitalize on their decision. They were bowled out for just 74 runs in the first innings which gave Gujarat an upper hand. Chintan Gaja and Tejas Patel wrapped up the Vidarbha innings with some sensational bowling.

They both picked up five wickets each. Gaja finished with figures of 5/31 and Tejas with 5/11 to which Vidarbha had no answers. Sanjay Raghunath was the highest scorer for Vidarbha with 33 runs.

Gujarat in reply, made a decent total of 256 runs in their first innings. This gained them a lead of 182 runs which was huge looking at the context of the match. With an innings of 88 runs, Aarya Desai helped Gujarat take a good first innings lead. Aditya Sarwate was the pick of the bowlers for Vidarbha with figures of 5/64.

With 182 runs behind, Vidarbha had to put on a good batting display in their second innings to make a match out of it. They did bat well in comparison to their first innings as they finished on 254 in their second innings. Jitesh Sharma and Atharva Taide were the major contributors with scores of 69 and 44 runs respectively which were extremely crucial knocks.

Sarwate’s magic etched Vidarbha in the history books

Siddharth Desai was the star performer with the ball for Gujarat as he picked up 6 crucial wickets for 76 runs. Vidarbha left Gujarat with just a mere target of 73 runs to get in order to win the match with almost one and a half days play left. Looking at how Gujarat batted in the match, it seemed pretty clear that the match would end in a Gujarat win.

But little did anyone know what Vidarbha had in store. They bowled out Gujarat for mere 54 runs and thus won full points for an outright win of 18 runs. This was indeed a historic win for Vidarbha as they defended the lowest total to be ever defended in the history of the Ranji Trophy.

Aditya Sarwate led the bowling attack with a brilliant 6 for 17 and eneded the match with a 11-wicket haul. Harsh Dubey picked up three wickets which sealed the victory for the home team. Only Siddharth Desai from Gujarat was able to enter the double digit mark as the rest of the batsmen perished like nine pins.

Nagpur will host the first test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy next month between India and Australia. With this match between Vidarbha and Gujarat ending in just 3 days with all 40 wickets from both teams falling within the course of time, it will be interesting to see what strategy India and Australia apply when they take on the field in the very same ground.