Veteran Wasim Jaffer and opener Sanjay Ramaswamy struck unbeaten centuries as Vidarbha took command against Uttarakhand on the second day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final match here Wednesday.
At stumps, Vidarbha were 260/1 in the first innings, in response to Uttarakhand’s 355, with Ramaswamy (112 not out) and Jaffer (111 not out) holding the fort.
The hosts were still adrift by 95 runs at the end of day two of the match being played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association’s stadium at Jamtha on the city’s outskirts.
But the day clearly belonged to Ramaswamy and Jaffer, who conjured an unbeaten 215-run stand for the second wicket after a rare failure by skipper Faiz Fazal (29) who perished early.
Fazal was dismissed by right-arm medium pacer Deepak Dhapola.
Jaffer in the process struck his fourth ton of this Ranji season, having already hit centuries in the league stage against Mumbai, Gujarat and Baroda.
In his 153-ball stay at the crease so far, the 40-year -old has hammered 13 boundaries, while his partner Ramaswamy hit 16 fours in his 212-ball innings so far as the duo took an inexperienced Uttarakhand bowlers to the task.
Earlier, resuming the day on 293 for six, Uttarakhand added 62 runs to their overnight score before bundling out for a respectable 355, with Saurabh Rawat top-scoring with 108. Rawat, who was unbeaten on 68, added 40 runs to his tally as he notched up a deserving hundred. However, apart from Rawat, other lower-order batsmen failed to make a mark for the visitors.
Vidarbha bowlers, led by speedster Umesh Yadav, ensured that the opponents did not score big. Yadav, who played the Test match at Perth against Australia late last year, was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts as he returned with figures of 4-90.
Brief Scores: Uttarakhand 355 (Saurabh Rawat 108, Avneesh Sudha 91; Umesh Yadav 4-90, Akshay Wakhare 2-46) versus Vidarbha 260/1 (Sanjay Ramaswamy 112 not out, Wasim Jaffer 111 not out; Deepak Dhapola 1-45)
