Vidarbha pipped Himachal Pradesh by three wickets in Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty-20 cricket tournament at Surat on Thursday.
Batting first, Himachal scored 167 in 20 overs. In reply, Vidarbha chased the target on the last ball of the last over. Young Atharva Taide (43, 16b, 8×4, 1×6) and wicket-keeper batsman Jitesh Sharma (37 b, 21 b, 6×4, 1×6) gave a good start to Vidarbha making 68 run partnership for the first wicket. Skipper Faiz Fazal (27, 25 b, 3×4) too batted well. Ganesh Satish returned to the pavilion cheaply (7). After losing five wickets for 123, Akshay Karnewar (17, 14b, 1×6) and Jangid (25 *, 15b, 2×4, 1×6) played sensibly and fashioned the victory.
Earlier, Himachal Pradesh scored a challenging total thanks to Ekant Sen (52, 39 b, 8×4), Nitin Sharma (36, 15b, 2×4, 3×6) and Rishi Dhawan (23,18 b, 1×4, 1×6). For Vidarbha, left arm pacer Shrikant Wagh (3 for 32) was the main wicket taker. He was ably supported by Yash Thakur who claimed two for 32.
