Winning is definitely a habit. For decades Vidarbha had no BCCI trophy to show for and within two years…they have won five! Celebrating the selection of five of their team-mates— Mandar Mahalle, Nayan Chavan, Harsh Dubey, Rohit Dattatraya and Dushyant Tekan for the upcoming India U-19 Challenger Trophy, the motivated boys scored a thumping 83-run win overTamil Nadu to bag the Vinoo Mankad Trophy for the Under-19 one-day limited overs tournament at VCA Civil Lines ground on Sunday.
Chasing Vidarbha’s 297-6, built largely around hundreds from Yash Rathod and Aman Mokhade, Tamil Nadu were bundled out for 214 with leg-spinner Rohit Dattatraya (5-37) returning with a five-wicket haul. Vidarbha winning the titles started as recently as in January 2017.
The Under-16boysthumpedUttarPradesh by 171 runs at Holkar Stadium in Indore to win the first silverware — the Vijay Merchant Trophy. The seniors did an encore in the same city at the same venue winning the Ranji Trophy this year in January
The U-19 boys followed it up with the Cooch Behar title at home and the seniors lifted the Irani Cup at home for the fourth title. The U-19 boys completed the ‘High Fives’with Mankad Trophy. A host of players graduated from the U-16 side that won the Vijay Merchant Trophy while one came from the Cooch Behar winning team. These are the youngsters who are making winning a habit.
Mandar Mahalle, who led the then U-16 side, Dattatraya, Sandesh Durugwar, Mokhade and Harsh Dubey were the team mates while Yash Rathod was the part of Cooch Behar wining side. Rathod was the highest run scorer in India last season and has also represented India U-19 teams in various competitions. The U-19 winning captain Atharva Taide got himself promoted to the Ranji squad and was named in the Indian squad for the Emerging Teams Asia Cup on Sunday.
The day at VCA Civil Lines ground start edona positive note with Vidarbha skipper Yash Kadam winning the toss. Mokhade (101; 124b, 7×4) and Rathod (104; 103b, 13×4) added a massive 194 runs for the third wicket after Mahalle had contributed 33. Kadam (24*) and Dubey (13*) ensured the hosts reach close to 300.
With almost six runs required from every over,Tamil Nadu batsmen were under pressure. They could not have a big partnership and except for opener P Praveen Kumar (48) and skipper R Sonu Yadav (33), none of the batsmen could impress much. Dattatraya was well supported by left-arm spinner Dubey (2-42), Mahalle (1-29) and seamer Dushyant Tekan (1-30).
In fact, from this year only the U-19 event was upgraded from the zonal level to the national level. Earlier, the teams would complete among themselves in the five zone and were declared zonal winners. From this year, all the team were clubbed together for the mega tournament. Nine teams comprised Elite Group A and B, eight Elite Group C and nine made the Pate Group.
From Group A and B, top five teams progressed to the knockouts while two from C and the Plate winner mad e it to the last eight. Vidarbha were the fifth team to qualify from the combined Group A and B.
