Cricket News: Vidarbha close in on title victory vs Saurashtra

Vidarbha put themselves in pole position to retain the title by blunting Saurashtra's challenge on the fourth day of the Ranji Trophy final. Star India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara failed for the second successive time as left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate once again turned out to be the batsman's nemesis, trapping him leg before for a duck with Saurashtra tottering at 58/5 in their chase of 206. Sarwate (3/13 in 10 overs) was the wrecker-in-chief, also accounting for the wickets of Snel Patel, who scored a hundred in the first essay, and Harvik Desai. Going into the final day, Saurashtra need to score 148 more runs with Vishvaraj Jadeja (23) and Kamlesh Makvana (2) at the crease at close of play. Earlier, left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (6/96) had cleaned up the Vidarbha top-order to hand Saurashtra an advantage but the hosts held on to reach 200 after being reduced to 147/8. Mohit Kale contributed 38 off 94 balls and Sarwate, batting at number eight, scored 49 after the hosts resumed the day at 55/2. Sarwate then starred with the ball too, rattling the Saurashtra top-order with his left-arm spin.