Thakur bags four as Vidarbha consolidate strong position

Vidarbha consolidated their strong position against Rest of India in the Irani Cup and ended the third day with a lead of 224. Just 51.5 overs were bowled before bad light brought the day to a premature end at Nagpur. Yash Thakur starred with the ball, bagging 4 for 66 to ensure a quick end to ROI's innings on the third day.

Resuming the day on 142/5, Rest of India suffered an immediate jolt as Aditya Thakare trapped Manav Suthar out LBW off the very first delivery. Still trailing Vidarbha by a significant margin, Rajat Patidar attempted to counterattack and brought up fifty in the process but once he fell in the 66th over, it didn't take Vidarbha long to bowl ROI out to claim a handsome 128-run first innings lead.

In reply, Vidarbha's openers started solidly and saw their team through to Lunch without sustaining any damage. ROI's first breakthrough came in the 15th over after Suthar managed to get rid of Atharva Taide. Aman Mokhade couldn't convert his start and was out caught behind to Gurnoor Brar in the 24th over.

Dhruv Shorey and Danish Malewar then combined to form a steady partnership to take their team to Tea. Just one over of play was possible in the third session before bad light stopped play. With there being no improvement in conditions, Stumps was called without any further play.

Brief Scores: Vidarbha 342 & 96/2 (Aman Mokhade 37, Dhruv Shorey 34*; Gurnoor Brar 1-11) lead Rest of India 214 (Rajat Patidar 66, Abhimanyu Easwaran 52; Yash Thakur 4-66) by 224 runs.