Ranji Trophy 2018-19, Elite A, Round 4, Day 2: Faiz Fazal, Akshay Wadkar hold the key to Vidarbha gaining first-innings lead versus Chhattisgarh

Fazal brought up his 35th first-class half century to remain unbeaten on 53 while Akshay Wadkar was two runs short of his fourth fifty

Captain Faiz Fazal brought up his 35^th first-class half century to remain unbeaten on 53 while Akshay Wadkar was two runs short of his fourth fifty as the duo stitched 88 runs to take Vidarbha to 119/3, trailing Chhattisgarh by 113 runs on day two of their Ranji Trophy 2018-19 Round 4 Elite A match on Thursday.

Resuming at their overnight score of 188/6, Chhattisgarh added 44 runs to end their first innings. Pacer Aditya Thakare, who snapped three wicket on the opening day, added two more to his tally to bag register a maiden fifer in just his fifth match.

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Thakare had Sumit Ruikar caught behind for just 8 and claimed the last wicket after castling Omkar Verma for two. Fazal contributed with the ball, claiming two wickets, Shakeeb Ahmed (5) and Pankaj Rao.

In reply, Vidarbha were in a spot of bother at 4/2 with pacer Verma hurting the defending champions with two quick wickets. He first sent opener Sanjay Ramaswamy for a duck and then had the experienced Wasim Jaffer for a rare nought leave Vidarbha at 31/3.

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Wadkar joined his skipper Fazal to steady the innings and prevented any further casualty. Fazal smashed six boundaries en route to his 53*, while Wadkar’s struck seven boundaries for his 48*.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 119/3 (Faiz Fazal 53*, Akshay Wadkar 48*) trail Chhattisgarh 232 (Aditya Thakare 5/56) by 113 runs

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