Atharva Taide's Century Powers Vidarbha to Vijay Hazare Trophy Glory

The Day/Night encounter looked a close affair after Saurashtra recovered from early setbacks, thanks to a valiant 88 by Prerak Mankad and 63-ball 64 by Chirag Jani lower down the order as they maintained their team's hopes. But the asking rate proved too much for Saurashtra as they were all out for 279 in 48.5 overs, as they chased the target of 318 runs set by Vidarbha largely due to opener Atharva Taide's 118-ball128 and 54 by Yash Rathod.

Saurashtra suffered early setbacks in their chase of the stiff target as they lost skipper Harvik Desai (20) and Vishvaraj Jadeja (9) with the score reading 30/2 in the sixth over.

Mankad and Sammar Gajjar took the score to 78 before the latter got out for 25, caught and bowled by Darshan Nalkande, who ended with 2-52. Mankad continued to hold one end up, though Saurashtra lost Parswaraj Rana (7).

Mankad found a willing partner in Chirag Jani as they raised a 93-run partnership for the fifth-wicket. Harsh Dubey made the breakthrough for Vidarbha when he trapped Mankad lbw. Jani continued to fight from the other end and added 45 runs for the seventh wicket with Ruchit Ahir (21). Saurashtra lost known stars like Jaydev Unadkat (6), Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (8), and Chetan Sakhariya (11) cheaply as they tried to battle the rising run-rate. They were eventually out for

Earlier, Vidarbha opener Atharva Taide stood up for his team, the 25-year-old hitting a magnificent century off just 97 balls to help his team post a massive score.

Opening the innings after Saurashtra won the toss, Taide and Aman Mokhade easily tackled the early swing to forge an 80-run opening stand.

Saurashtra finally got their breakthrough in the 18th over, when Ankur Pawar clean bowled Mokhade, who departed after scoring 33 runs. Despite losing his partner, Taide continued his assault and made sure the pressure did not fall on the new batter, Yash Rathod (54), and they raised 133 runs for the second-wicket partnership.

Taide completed his hundred in the 31st over with a single. He hammered 12 fours and two sixes before completing his century. This is Atharva's first list. A century in five years. He is only the 16th batter to reach triple numbers in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Final.

Atharva finally departed on the last ball of the 36th over, when he chipped a fine yorker by Ankur Pawar into the hands of Prerak Mankad. He scored 128 runs off just 118 balls. Atharva also hit 15 fours and three sixes during his stay.

Atharva enjoyed a great run during the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, playing some crucial innings to take his team forward. He played a patient knock of 62 (72) in the quarter-final against Delhi to help Vidarbha reach 300. He also scored 80 against Assam and a 65 against Baroda earlier in January.

Brief scores:

Vidarbha 317/8 in 50 overs (Atharva Taide 128, Yash Rathod 54, Aman Mokhade 33; Ankur Panwar 4-65, Chetan Sakariya 2-43, Chirag Jani 2-65) beat Saurashtra 279 all out in 48.5 overs (Prerak Mankad 88, Chirag Jani 64; Tash Thakur 4-50, Nachiket Bhute 3-46) by 38 runs

- IANS