NAGPUR: Aditya Sarwate and Umesh Yadav had Mumbai in their grip. They contended the Mumbai line-up, capable of threatening any side, by keeping all their IPL regulars in check. They did so well early on that Mumbai were kept below 160 and it looked like Vidarbha would romp home in Rajkot on Sunday.
However, Vidarbha's middle-order batters, especially those who got their eyes in and got out, could not maintain the asking rate which cost them the match by 15 runs in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Vidarbha missed the middle overs' push that was needed while chasing 156. They crawled at a notch better than a run-a-ball and invited pressure. They had 91 on the board in 15 overs that handed Mumbai the advantage.
Though Apoorv Wankhade (23 n.o; 17b, 3x4) and Akshay Karnewar (27 n.o; 19b, 1x4, 2x6) together added 51 runs in 33 balls for the 7th wicket, Vidarbha still fell short by 15 runs. The loss has left the VCA officials fuming.
"What else do you need from the bowlers? They got all the top IPL batters out early. You cannot bat at 6 runs per over till the 16th over and hope to win against a side like Mumbai," said a former coaching staff member.
Vidarbha skipper Akshay Wadkar (22; 24b, 2x4) came in the 5th over and got out in the 14th overs. Shubham Dubey (24; 21b, 2x6) was with Wadkar for 30 balls and they together added 33 off it. From there, Wakhade and Karnewar took over but they did not have much overs left to give desired finishing touches.
Mumbai's Shivam Dube picked up key wickets of Atharva Taide (28) and Jitesh Sharma (2) and left-arm spinner Shams Mulani (4-0-21-3) choked the runs.
Earlier, it was all-weather man Aditya Sarwate (4-0-28-3) and pacer Umesh Yadav (4-0-38-2) who gobbled up Mumbai's top-4. While Yadav castled Prithvi Shaw (19), Sarwate had Yashasvi Jaiswal (8), Sarfaraz Khan (26) and Aman Khan (11) that kept Mumbai to 83 for 4 in 10 overs. Later, Yadav sent Shivam Dube (41) packing in the 19th over.
BRIEF SCORES:
Mumbai 155 for 8 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 41, Sarfaraz Khan 26; Aditya Sarwate 3-28, Darshan Nalkande 2-30, Umesh Yadav 2-38) beat Vidarbha 140 for 6 in 20 overs (Atharva Taide 28, Akshay Karnewar 27 n.o, Shubham Dubey 24, Apoorv Wankhade 23 n.o; Shams Mulani 3-21, Shivam Dube 2-20) by 15 runs.
