Haryana-Vidharbha set for tight finish

Jayant Yadav's five-wicket haul helped Haryana take the crucial first innings lead before Vidharbha fought back to leave their Ranji Trophy Group B match evenly poised after the third and penultimate day here today.
Haryana dismissed Vidharbha for 287 but were themselves reduced to 29 for two in their second innings when stumps were drawn for the day.
Overnight 94 for three, half centuries by Hemang Badani (65) and Rashmi Parida (60) steered Vidharbha from the precarious position. Shrikant Wagh also chipped in with 40 valuable runs to help the home team's cause.
Badani, who was overnight 35, struck eight fours in all in his 128-ball knock. Parida also struck a similar number of fours during his 147-ball stay at the crease.

But in the absence of any other noteworthy contribution, Vidharbha ended up conceding a crucial 42-run first innings lead which would help Haryana in the points table in case of a draw.
Jayant Yadav was the star for Haryana with his five scalps, three of which he pulled off yesterday itself. The off-spinner's 32 overs, five of them maiden, cost just 77 runs.

Haryana's second innings began on a disappointing note as they lost both their openers with just 18 runs on the scoreboard.
While Abhimanyu Khod was trapped LBW by Wagh without contributing a single run, Nitin Saini fell to Sumit Ruikar after making just 7 runs off 22 deliveries.

Sunny Singh (15) and Harshal Patel (6) were holding fort for Haryana at close of play today.
Brief Scores:
Vidarbha: 287 all out in 112.5 overs (Hemang Badani 65, Rashmi Parida 60, Jayant Yadav 5/77)
Haryana: 329 and 29/2 in 10 overs (Sunny Singh 15 batting).