Vijay Merchant Trophy: Historic spell by Viraj Maheshwari, took 8 wickets for 3 runs; Vidarbha in knockout

Vijay Merchant Trophy Vidarbha: On the strength of Viraj Maheshwari’s lethal bowling and captain Kush Sharma’s brilliant double century, Vidarbha defeated Chandigarh by an innings and 76 runs in the final league match of Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy.

With this spectacular win, Vidarbha secured the top position in the Elite ‘A’ group with 30 points and entered the knockout stage and gave a great New Year gift to the cricket lovers of Vidarbha.

Kush’s memorable double century

In the 3-day match played at the KSCA ground in Shimoga, Karnataka, Chandigarh scored 237 runs in the first innings. In reply, Vidarbha captain Kush Sharma batted brilliantly and scored a double century, while Om Dhotre scored a useful half-century. Thanks to these innings, Vidarbha declared the innings after scoring 344 runs for 5 wickets and gained a significant lead of 107 runs.

Viraj Maheshwari

• 08 wickets
• 03 runs

Also read – Vijay Hazare Trophy: Vidarbha’s victorious hat-trick, Chandigarh caught in the claws of Darshan, flag of victory

No one can stand before Virat

In the second innings, Chandigarh started playing with the lead of 6 runs for 3 wickets, but they had no success against the Vidarbha bowlers. Viraj and Raunique Hedau did not give the batsmen a chance to survive with their precise line-length. The entire team was reduced to just 31 runs.

Captain Yashjit Singh scored the maximum 10 runs, while 3 batsmen could not even open the account. Viraj took 8 wickets giving only 3 runs. Whereas Raunique Hedau took 2 wickets for 6 runs. With this strong performance, Vidarbha registered a spectacular victory by 76 runs with one innings remaining.