Vidarbha trounce Delhi to lift maiden Ranji Trophy

Vidarbha scripted history yesterday by lifting the Ranji Trophy title for the first time following their thumping nine-wicket win over Delhi here at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. Chasing a lowly target of 29 runs to win on the fourth day of the final match, opener Faiz Fazal was dismissed cheaply for two runs off Kulwant Khejroliya's delivery. However, Sanjay Ramaswa-my (unbeaten at nine) and Wasim Jaffer (unbeaten at 17) combined to help Vidarbha cross the mark with ease and lift their maiden trophy. Earlier, Akshay Wakhare bagged four wickets while Aditya Sarwate and Rajneesh Gurbani took three and two wickets, respectively to help Vidarbha bundle out Delhi for 280 runs in their second innings. Resuming at Sunday's score of 528-7, Vidarbha posted a huge first-innings score of 547 in reply to Delhi's 295, thanks to Akshay Wadkar (133) for his maiden century in first-class cricket. Meanwhile, Wasim Jaffer (78), Aditya Sarwate (79), Siddhesh Neral (74) and Faiz Fazal (67) were other notable contributors for Vidarbha. For Delhi, Navdeep Saini was the pick of the bowlers as he grabbed five wickets while Akash Sudan and Kulwant Khejroliya also took two wickets each. Nitish Rana also chipped in with a wicket. Rajneesh Gurbani was adjudged man-of-the-match as he finished with excellent figures of 6-59 and 2-92 in the two innings respectively. Meanwhile, Gurbani also became only the second cricketer ever to scalp a hat-trick in the final of Ranji Trophy.