Vidarbha defeat Madhya Pradesh by 62 runs, to meet Mumbai in final

pace bowling pair of Aditya Thakare and Yash Thakur battered Madhya Pradesh tail as Vidarbha defeated ir rivals by 62 runs to set up a Ranji Trophy title clash with Mumbai, here on Wednesday.

Madhya Pradesh, who were in a precarious position at stumps on day four at 228/6 requiring 93 more runs to win, wired in face of hostile bowling from duo who shared spoils in first session of final day to earn Vidarbha a memorable semifinal win.

Madhya Pradesh were finally bundled out for 258 in 81.3 overs as ir hopes of entering final for third time in premier domestic tournament were dashed.

This is Vidarbha's third entry into Ranji final, and on both occasions y have won title, defeating Delhi (2017-18) and Saurashtra (2018-19) respectively.

Chasing a target of 321 for victory, Madhya Pradesh, 2021-22 Ranji champion, were still in match despite losing six wickets, but Thakare and Thakur were on song on final day, with early morning freshness of wicket helping m extract a fair bit of bounce and movement.

Overnight batter Kumar Kartikeya, who had just taken guard when stumps were called on Tuesday, fell for a duck, cleaned up by Thakare after facing just four balls.

Anubhav Agarwal was next to depart, clean bowled for a duck by Thakare, leaving MP tottering at 234 for 8 and virtually extinguishing ir chances of making it to Ranji final for third time.

Saransh Jain tried to keep innings alive but could add just nine runs to his overnight score of 16 before Yash Thakur sent his stumps flying to bring more joy to Vidarbha camp.

Kulwant Khejroliya too went cheaply to signal celebrations in Akshay Wadkar-led side.

Vidarbha will take on 41-time champions Mumbai in final from March 10.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 170 & 402 in 101.3 overs (Aman Mokhade 59, Yash Rathod 141, Akshay Wadkar 77; Anubhav Agarwal 5/92) beat Madhya Pradesh 252 and 258 in 81.3 overs (Yash Dubey 94, Harsh Gawali 67; Aditya Sarwate 2/56, Aditya Thakare 2/45, Yash Thakur 3/60, Akshay Wakhare 3/342) 62 runs.