Left-arm spin reigned supreme as Harsh Dubey (nine for 53) recorded the best figures by a Vidarbha bowler in the history of the Ranji Trophy on the opening day of its Elite Group A match against Madhya Pradesh here at the VCA Jamtha Stadium in Nagpur.
The left-armer broke Arun Ogiral’s record of eight for 39 against the same opponent in 1967.
The visitor won the toss and opted to bat first under glorious blue skies, but soon found itself in trouble when opener Yash Dubey was strangled down the leg-side by Nachiket Bhute with the new ball.
His dismissal brought the inexperienced Saksham Purohit and Chanchal Rathore together at the crease, and the duo opted to deadbat the remainder of the first hour.
Vidarbha used four bowlers in the first hour, and it was after a slip from the fourth, Darshan Nalkande, that Dubey returned for his second spell of the day. Three balls later he had Chanchal leg-before with a ball that kept low.
Saksham would follow a few overs later courtesy of a sharp slip catch from R. Samarth, bringing Rajat Patidar to the crease. Patidar had peeled off two centuries in his first two Ranji outings, but received an early lifeline when Wadkar shelled a tough chance behind the stumps off the tweaker.
The drop catch would cost only two runs as Patidar drilled an attempted backfoot punch to cover to end his stay at the crease prematurely. Shubham Sharma also popped a catch to short leg to compound the visitor’s misery.
With Vidarbha firmly in the ascendancy as the Lunch break approached, Atharva Mahajan and Saransh Jain took it upon themselves to land a counterpunch, and dispatched Bhute and Dubey to the boundary twice each before the pause.
Upon resumption, they retained the upbeat tempo with particular severity against the pacers. Saransh carted Rajneesh Gurbani for a trio of boundaries while Bhute received more tap as their partnership crossed 50 runs.
However, Dubey once again found the timely intervention, this time trapping Saransh in front to stall MP’s progress. Atharva, meanwhile, launched Aman Mokahde for six over midwicket to bring up his maiden First-Class fifty from 80 balls.
The spectre of Dubey continued to loom large as he incited a return catch from Arshad Khan before deceiving Kumar Kartikeya Singh into holing out. As the Tea break approached, the match had almost devolved into a mini-battle between Atharva and Dubey.
The pressure eventually told on the younger competitor as his attempt to launch Dubey straight went into the hands of first slip. With a personal record approaching, Avesh Khan slogged Parth Rekhade up into the air but long-on shelled the catch.
Dubey then took his record at the first time of asking, castling Ravi Kiran to bring the MP innings to a halt, and break history for his state.
MP will still feel it is alive in the game though. Kartikeya ensured that the stranglehold of left-arm spin continued as he took the new ball and immediately sent openers Mokhade and Satyam Bhoyar packing.
R. Samarth and Dhruv Shorey began stitching a brief resistance, but it was ended when a leading edge from Samarth against Avesh Khan carried to backward point, while Danish Malewar was trapped in front to become Kartikeya’s third victim.
Shorey and captain Akshay Wadkar were forced to ride their luck through the closing stages of the day, but reached stumps having prevented any further damage.
The scores
Madhya Pradesh – 1st innings: Yash Dubey c Wadkar b Bhute 5, Saksham Purohit c Samarth b Harsh 21, Chanchal Rathore lbw Harsh 13, Shubham Sharma c Malewar b Harsh 16, Rajat Patidar c Mokhade b Harsh 2, Atharva Mahajan c Samarth b Harsh 85, Saransh Jain lbw Harsh 34, Arshad Khan c&b Harsh 12, Kumar Kartikeya Singh c Bhute b Harsh 7, Avesh Khan (not out) 13, Ravi Kiran b Harsh 1; Extras (b-0, lb-0, wd-0, nb-0): 0; (in 66.1 overs): 209.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-32, 3-43, 4-47, 5-64, 6-136, 7-166, 8-180, 9-201.
Vidarbha bowling: Harsh Dubey 23.1-4-56-9, Nachiket Bhute 12-1-46-1, Rajneesh Gurbani 11-2-30-0, Darshan Nalkande 6-0-25-0, Aman Mokhade 5-0-13-0, Parth Rekhade 9-0-42-0.
Vidarbha – 1st innings: Satyam Bhoyar c Patidar b Kartikeya 8, Aman Mokhade c Chanchal b Kartikeya 0, R. Samarth c Yash b Avesh 17, Dhruv Shorey (batting) 21, Danish Malewar lbw Kartikeya 0, Akshay Wadkar (batting) 9; Extras (b-0, lb-0, wd-1, nb-0): 1; (for four wkts. in 23 overs): 56.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-8, 3-34, 4-35.
Madhya Pradesh bowling: Kumar Kartikeya Singh 10-2-23-3, Avesh Khan 6-1-11-1, Saransh Jain 5-0-15-0, Ravi Kiran 2-0-7-0.
Toss: Madhya Pradesh.
Published on Nov 02, 2026
