NAGPUR: When 37-year-old Faiz Fazal played his favourite shots — a straight drive, a cover drive and a fluent glance off the pads — in the first session itself, he seemed to be in for a cracker of a match. The skipper held the Vidarbha innings together on a dicey wicket while batting against Railways. With Faiz in the middle, things were looking rosy for Vidarbha until former India leg spinner Karn Sharma turned the innings on its head with a 8-wicket haul of Day-1 on Tuesday.
It was a topsy-turvy opening day at the Ranji Trophy season opener at Jamtha stadium. It had a calming century from Faiz (112; 219b, 12x4), a 112-run partnership between Faiz and Atharva Taide (43), and Karn's precision in attacking the stumps, which ultimately put Vidarbha on a sticky wicket.
When Faiz and Atharva were playing, it looked like the Railways bowling was toothless. Their partnership placed Vidarbha comfortably at 150 for 1. From there, Karn triggered the collapse and bowled Vidarbha out for just 213. In reply, Railways were 22 for 1 at stumps. Opener Faiz, who notched-up his 23rd First Class century, saw eight batters getting out in front of him, of which six got out to Karn, who recorded his career best figures. Faiz became the ninth man to get out.
Only Taide (43) and R Sanjay (18) could reach the double-figure mark, while others succumbed to the 35-year-old leg spinner, who exploited the dry wicket and a tinge of grass on it to the best effect.
The 5-over patch between the 53rd and 57th overs, which had 3 overs from Karn, derailed Vidarbha as they lost four key middle-order batters. The leggie spun one in on southpaw Taide and caught him LBW. Then, Karn bowled a classical leg spin to Ganesh Satish (7) and had him caught in slips. He bowled two exceptional flipper deliveries in the 57th over to cut short the stay of Akshay Wadkar (1) and Apoorv Wankhade (0).
VCA officials were unhappy with four umpiring decisions on Karn's bowling. However, they also claimed that it is part and parcel of the game.
When the drama was unfolding at one end, Faiz stood his ground at the other. He was confident and picked up singles at will. When Vidarbha were 172 for 2, Akshay Wakhare (3 runs off 60b) gave Faiz some company. They played 96 balls together. While Akshay frustrated Karn, Faiz completed his century. They added 38 runs between them but a tough leg before decision against Akshay broke their partnership.
BRIEF SCORES: Vidarbha 213 all out in 80.4 overs (Faiz Fazal 112, Atharva Taide 43; Karn Sharma 8/38) vs Railways 22 for 1 in 6.1 overs (Aditya Sarwate 1-13)
