Nagpur, Dec 14 (PTI): Leg-spinner Karn Sharma’s sensational eight-wicket haul on day one was not backed by the Railways batters as they conceded a 52-run first innings lead to Vidarbha after getting bundled out for 161 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match here on Wednesday.
Resuming the day on 22 for 1 in reply to Vidarbha’s 213, Railways batters fell to the guile of spinners — left-arm orthodox Aditya Sarwate (5/53) and offie Akshay Wakhare (5/60), who both came up with five-wicket hauls.
Only opener B Vivek Singh (81) could give some sort of resistance to the Vidarbha spin duo. Seven Railways batters, including captain Sharma (2) himself, were out in single-digit scores. Three of them were out on nought.
The 35-year-old Sharma, who had played one Test in 2014, had ripped apart the Vidarbha batting line-up with figures of 8/38 on Tuesday.
Vidarbha reached 161 for 2 at stumps on the second day to extend the lead to 213 and take control of the match.
Captain Faiz Fazal, who had made 112 in the first innings, was batting on 82 when stumps were drawn.
Brief Scores:
At Nagpur: Vidarbha: 213 and 161 for 2 in 39 overs (Faiz Fazal 82 batting) vs Railways 161 all out in 55.2 overs (Vivek Singh 81; Aditya Sarwate 5/53 and Akshay Wakhare 5/60).
At Mohali: Punjab: 586 for 4 declared in 141.1 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 202, Abhishek Sharma 100, Mandeep Singh 128 not out, Anmolpreet Singh 86; Rohit Dhanda 3/100) vs Chandigarh 62 for 2 in 31 overs.
At Agartala: Gujarat: 271 vs Tripura 244 for 6 in 83 overs (Sankar Paul 57, Sudip Chatterjee 58).
At Jammu: Madhya Pradesh: 308 all out in 111.2 overs (Yash Dubey 81, Rajat Patidar 62, Shubham Sharma 52; Auqib Nabi 4/65) vs J&K 98 all out in 38.5 overs (Vivrant Sharma 34; Avesh Khan 5/33) and (f/o) 54 for 7 in 24 overs.
