Vidarbha on Thursday defeated Saurashtra by 78 runs to win the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 at VCA Stadium in Nagpur. This is Vidarbha’s second consecutive title win under Faiz Fazal’s captaincy. Set a target of 206 runs, Saurashtra were bundled out for just 127 runs. On day five of the match, Saurashtra resumed on an overnight score of 58/5 and were then bowled out inside the first session.

Vishvaraj Jadeja and Kamlesh Makvana were the two overnight batsmen for Saurashtra. The duo were separated in the morning after Makvana was dismissed by left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate, who went on to scalp match-winning 6/59. Ranji Trophy 2018-19: CIC Invites Former State Captains to Discuss Mumbai's Debacle.

Saurashtra then lost the remaining four wickets cheaply including Vishvaraj Jadeja, who scored 52. Apart from Sarwate, Akshay Wakhare chipped in with three wickets. On a penultimate day, Sarwate broke Saurashtra’s back by scalping Cheteshwar Pujara for a five-ball duck. Sarwate was instrumental in Vidarbha’s success as he picked 5/98 in the first innings as well. The spinner apparently was adjudged as Man of the Match.

Opting to bat first, Vidarbha managed to post 312 in their first innings. Saurashtra then almost matched Vidarbha’s tally and scored 307 runs with wicketkeeper-batsman Snell Patel scoring 102 runs. Wasim Jaffer Becomes First Indian to Touch 11,000-run Milestone in Ranji Trophy.

In their second innings, Vidarbha were bundled out for 200 runs and with a feeble first innings lead of five runs, set Saurashtra 206 to win. The visitors kept losing wickets and eventually were all out on day five to hand Vidarbha their second Ranji Trophy win.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 07, 2019 11:43 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).