Vidarbha claw back despite Easwaran's fifty

An all-round bowling display helped Vidarbha claw back on Day 2 after a lower order collapse with the bat against Rest of India. Despite Abhimanyu Easwaran's half-century, Rest of India went to stumps on 142 for 5 after bundling out Vidarbha for 342 on Thursday.

Resuming the second day's play on 280 for 5, Rest of India struck early with Anshul Kamboj and Akash Deep trapping Yash Thakur and Harsh Dubey legbefore respectively. Darshan Nalkande offered much-needed support to the overnight centurion, Atharva Taide, as the eighth wicket pair stitched a 37-run alliance and took the score past the 300-run mark. Gurnoor Brar then had Nalkande caught behind before Saransh Jain snapped the last two wickets to wrap up Vidarbha's innings.

In response, Rest of India made a steady start with openers Easwaran and Aaryan Juyal putting on a half-century partnership, but Vidarbha dragged themselves back with regular strikes in the final session of the day. Nalkande had Juyal trapped legbefore, and soon Yash Dhull's innings was cut short courtesy Akshay Wadkar's stumping.

Easwaran and Rajat Patidar promised to revive their innings but the former was dismissed legbefore by Parth Rekhade soon after reaching his half-century. Patidar held one end up, but Vidarbha's bowlers kept chipping away from the other end. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan were dismissed cheaply as Rest of India were reduced to 124 for 5.

Manav Suthar and Patidar played out the last nine overs of the day and ensured there was no further damage

Brief Scores: Vidarbha 342 (Atharva Taide 143, Yash Rathod 91; Akash Deep 3-51, Manav Suthar 3-74) lead Rest of India 142/5 (Abhimanyu Easwaran 52, Rajat Patidar 42*; Parth rekhade 2-24) by 200 runs