Ranji Trophy: Wasim Jaffer steadies Vidarbha with vintage 61 not out

Wasim Jaffer en route his unbeaten 61 for Vidarbha during the Ranji Trophy final against Delhi at Holkar Stadium on Saturday. Pic/PTI

Wasim Jaffer brought into play his years of experience as he guided Vidarbha to 206 for four with an unbeaten half-century after seamer Rajneesh Gurbani scythed through Delhi's lower-order for a rare hat-trick in a Ranji Trophy final in Mumbai on Saturday. At stumps on the second day, Jaffer was batting on 61 and Akshay Wakhare was yet to open his account, as Vidarbha trailed by 89 runs.

Resuming on 271 for six, in-form seamer Gurbani (6-59) rocked seven-time winners Delhi by removing three batsmen in as many balls in the second morning. Vidarbha began their innings in earnest and went to lunch without suffering any damage while scoring 45 runs. This season's most prolific opening duo of skipper Faiz Fazal (67) and Sanjay Ramaswamy (31) started the second session from where they had left, adding another 51 runs, before Akash Sudan sent Ramaswamy's stumps flying.

That brought Jaffer in the middle but, playing in only his second first-class game, Sudan dealt Vidarbha a body blow when the medium pacer had Fazal caught behind after the batsman prodded casually to a delivery that was moving away. He faced 101 balls scoring 10 boundaries. Prior to that, an unfazed Fazal continued playing his shots and brought up his fifty with a paddle-sweep boundary off left-arm spinner Mishra.

Jaffer looked solid in the middle and hard as they tried, Delhi could dislodge the seasoned campaigner as an eventful day's play came to an end. Before that, he entertained the sparse weekend crowd with a few delightful shots - a drive past the mid-on, a punch through point and cover drive that had lazy elegance written all over it.

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