NAGPUR: Delhi had almost sucked life out of Vidarbha when they creamed 16 runs in the 19th over bowled by Umesh Yadav. With just 9 runs needed in the last over, Vidarbha were hanging by a thread. Their master of death overs - Yash Thakur - had the ball and he, like before, pumped life back into Vidarbha on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old did what no one thought was possible. In the final over, he took a wicket, then an edge went to the boundary and the equation boiled down to just 4 needed off 3 balls. Under the pump, Yash took another wicket and bowled a superb last-ball yorker to squeeze Delhi out of the quarterfinal contest in Kolkata.
Vidarbha defeated Delhi, who had 6 IPL regulars including Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Nitish Rana, by 1 run in the last-ball thriller to enter second consecutive semifinal of the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Soon after turning the match on its head with precision, Yash (4-0-29-4) was pumping his chest and gesturing the dug-out with loud shouts. The youngster pulled a thriller out of nowhere for the second time in the last 15 days. Earlier, Yash had defended 11 runs in the last over against Uttarakhand.
Chasing 157, Delhi were 60 for no loss after powerplay and rushed to 83 for 2 in 10 overs. With 74 needed in the last 60 balls and Nitish Rana, Yash Dhull, Ayush Badoni and Lalit Yadav, all big-hitters and IPL regulars, in Delhi's ranks, Vidarbha were nowhere in the match.
Skipper Akshay Wadkar, who anchored Vidarbha innings with a responsible 63 from 53 balls, went to his senior-pro Aditya Sarwate (4-0-16-2). Sarwate once again suffocated batters with his arm balls that rushed on to the middle stump to keep Vidarbha alive in the contest.
The left-arm spinner bowled 11th and 13th overs, gave away just 7 runs and got the priced wicket of Rana, who played an irresponsible reverse sweep.
From the other end, Akshay Karnewar (4-0-28-0) and young Harsh Dubey (2-0-9-0) complemented Sarwate. Vidarbha took a brave call of bringing in Harsh as an Impact Player and giving him 14h and 16th over and he reposed the faith in him. The trio of spinners conceded just 53 runs from their 10 overs and spun the rivals out of the match. Umesh Yadav conceded 46 runs in 4 overs.
Earlier, Wadkar, who came in at No.3, arrived in the 2nd over and got out on the first ball of the 20th. He held his end firmly when wickets kept falling.
Dubey's 19 in last over made the difference
Shubham Dubey (29 n.o off 13b) - two sixes, a four, a double and a single - clobbered 19 runs in the last over that made all the difference. Had Dubey not rolled out a flurry of big hits, Vidarbha would have been in big trouble. They were crawling at 138 for 4 in 19 overs.
Blunder: 2 runs short
On the 3rd ball of the 14th over, Wadkar hit one in the cover-point region. Lalit Yadav put a dive in but the ball squeezed past him and hit the boundary. The batters had ran two by then but the umpires did not signal it as a boundary. These two runs could hurt any team in such thrilling encounters.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 157 for 5 in 20 overs (A Wadkar 63, S Dubey 29 n.o) bt Delhi 156-6 in 20 overs (Yash Dhull 39 n.o, Shikhar Dhawan 37; Yash Thakur 4-29, A Sarwate 2-16) by 1 run.
