Vidarbha have Mumbai sweating in U-23 semis

Vidarbha pacer Nachiket Bhute after his 4-26 at Wankhede yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Just a month ago, Vidarbha beat Mumbai in the U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy semi-final at Nagpur. On Monday, it was Vidarbha's turn to torment Mumbai albeit at the U-23 level, on the opening day of CK Nayudu Trophy semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium.

The visitors dominated the proceedings, dismissing Mumbai U-23 for a paltry 94. In reply, Vidarbha were 111 for six at stumps.

It was the same Wankhede pitch on which the Hardik Tamore-led Mumbai outfit thrashed Puducherry by an innings and 231 runs last week in the quarter-final encounter. However, the decision to bat first on Monday backfired as the hosts' top three batsmen were in the dressing room with just seven runs on the board by the eighth over.

Apart from top-scorer Sarfaraz Khan (40), Agni Chopra and Minad Manjrekar (12 each), no batsman reached double figures.

And except Sarfaraz, no Mumbai player had an answer to Vidarbha pacers Nachiket Bhute (4-26), Aditya Thakare (3-13) and Dushyant Tekan (3-37), who bowled in good areas. Bhute credited his team's success to Chandrakant Pandit, who is currently coaching Vidarbha's Ranji Trophy team.

"Our off-season training was very good, though very tough. We had four different sessions [fielding, skills, indoor practice and gym] for all teams from U-14 to the senior one, from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm at Vidarbha Cricket Association's Civil Lines ground. Chandu sir monitored everyone's progress. He pointed out the positives and negatives to all of us," said Bhute, who has claimed 18 wickets in six games.

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