Jadhav leads from the front to salvage a draw for Vidarbha

Skipper R Jadhav, with a fighting 74, helped Vidarbha salvage a draw in their Central Zone Cooch Behar (under-19) Trophy league match against Uttar Pradesh at the Vidarbha CA Ground in Nagpur on Tuesday. Following on, 177 runs in arrears, Vidarbha in their second innings made 239 for 8 when stumps were finally drawn.

Resuming at the hopeless situation of 35 for 3, Vidarbha's hopes were revived when Choudhary (10) and Jadhav (74) added 49 runs for the fourth wicket in 19 overs. Choudary was dismissed when he was caught by P Malviya off A Raza. Then HV Shitoot (58) joined Jadhav to take the score to 168. The fifth wicket partnership of 107 runs which lasted 23.2 overs, went a long way in helping Vidarbha earn a draw. Shitoot was the next to be dismissed stumped off Malviya off Sanjeev Mishra. He faced 76 balls and hit eight fours and a six.

At 177, Jadhav was caught behind off Mishra. He batted 3-1/2 hours, faced 152 balls and hit six fours and three sixes. Then CE Atram (38 not out) along with the tailenders batted out the rest of the overs till the match ended. Atram faced 146 balls and hit six fours. Vidarbha picked up three points while Uttar Pradesh got five from the match.