Vidarbha emerged winners of the 2017-18 edition of the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy on the basis of a first innings lead against Madhya Pradesh in the final in Nagpur. While the DG Nalkande –led attack kept the Punjab batsmen under pressure, Atharva Taide’s triple hundred put Vidarbha in a commanding position with a 325-run first innings lead and helped clinch their maiden title.
MP were bowled out for 289 after electing to bat in the four-day match by the Vidarbha attack. Y Thakur set the tone of the game with the wicket of Dev Barnale with 31 runs on the board. 71 runs later, Sanket Shrivastava was removed by P Rekhade to end the second wicket partnership. From there on, the Vidarbha bowlers continued to strike at regular intervals to leave MP on 276 for eight at the end of Day 1. They then returned to bowl MP out for the addition of 13 runs to the overnight total on the second morning. While Nalkande claimed four wickets, Thakur and Rekhade picked three each in the innings to keep MP to a modest score in the first innings.
Leading from the front, Taide (320) opening the innings for Vidarbha, anchored the innings with a marathon knock. The Vidarbha captain played a heroic innings to tip the balance in his team’s favour.
After the 103-run opening stand was ended with the departure of A Kumar, Vidarbha also lost Avesh Shaikh and Y Rathod soon after and were left on 169 for three. N Chavan, who then came to the crease partnered Taide in boosting the team’s position. The pair took the team to stumps on Day 2 at 243 for three and continued to pile on runs on the third day.
Taide and Chavan added 263-runs for the fourth wicket until middle-order bat was sent back by Rishabh Chouhan for 107, leaving Vidarbha on 432 for four. Sandesh Drugwar then supplemented his captain in adding 92 for the fifth wicket until Chouhan struck again. Taide, however continued to build on the innings and took the Vidarbha side to 579 for six until stumps on Day 3 with Nalkande.
Early on the fourth morning though, Nalkande was sent back by Chouhan and a while later, the bowler ended Taide’s marathon 483-ball knock. 10 runs later Vidarbha were all out for 614 with a whooping 325-run first inning lead.
With the Vidarbha firmly in the driver’s seat, Thakur and Nalkande accounted for the MP openers to leave team on 17 for two. Shrivastava and Dubey then stitched a 109-run stand to keep the innings afloat as MP strove to avoid an innings defeat. However, after Rekhade accounted for Dubey to leave MP on 126 for three, wickets crumbled and MP were at 174 for six at Tea. In the second over of the last session, Mohd Saad Baggad was dismissed by A Choudhari leaving MP on 175 for seven.
Shrivastava, who had held one end up, remained unbeaten on 71 when the match was called off in a Draw a while later with MP on 176 for seven.
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