Press Trust of India
Nagpur, Oct 2: India pacer Umesh Yadav (128, 119b, 7×4, 7×6) smashed his maiden century across all formats of the game to put Vidarbha in a strong position against Orissa on day two of the Ranji Trophy Group A game here Friday. Courtesy Yadav’s innings, Vidarbha ended at 467 all out after resuming the day at 256 for six.
Orissa in reply were 79 for two at stumps, trailing the hosts by 388 runs with Govinda Podder (21 batting) and Anurag Sarangi (nine batting) at the crease.
The star of the day undoubtedly was Yadav and this time his heroics were not with the ball. The 27-year-old, whose previous highest first class score was 90, hammered seven sixes and as many fours in his entertaining knock. Yadav got good support from tail-ender Akshay Wakhare, who chipped in with 34 (90b, 6×4).
After Orissa had struck two early blows to reduce the visitors to 293 for eight, Yadav and Wakhare added 102 runs for the ninth wicket as the Orissa bowlers toiled. They took Vidarbha close to the 400-run mark before Wakhare was dismissed by Biplab Samantray.
However, Yadav was not done it. He added 77 runs for the last wicket to take the hosts past the 450-run mark before Suryakant Pradhan dismissed last man RK Thakur.
For Orissa Basant Mohanty (3/65) and Suryakant Pradhan (3/76) emerged the most successful bowlers. However, now, the Orissa batters will have to play out of their skins if they are to ensure first innings points.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 467 (Umesh Yadav 128 n o, Ravi Jangid 40; Basant Mohanty 3/65, Suryakant Pradhan 3/76); Orissa 79/2 (Girija Rout 25, Govinda Podder 21 batting). Match to continue
Other Group A matches
(At Guwahati): Karnataka 187 and 77/0 (Mayank Agarwal 44 n o); Assam 194 (Amit Verma 57, Pallav Kumar Das 55) Match to continue.
(At Jaipur): Delhi 138 and 176/1(Unmukt Chand 84, Gautam Gambhir 77 batting); Rajasthan 240 (Sumit Narwal 3/47) Match to continue.
(At Pune): Haryana 335(Himanshu Rana 157; Nikit Dhumal 3/55); Maharashtra 7/0. Match to continue.
