Ton up Rathod takes Vidarbha to 326

Rathod, who had made a fine 118 against Pondicherry in the last match, held the Vidarbha innings together with a fine 135 . Thus he scored his fourth first-class century in just his 11th match.

The 24-year-old middle-order batter halted the slide after the two-time Ranji champions, who elected to bat, were reduced to 64/3 in the opening session.

Rathod and Danish Malewar (56) guided the side to 181 with a 117-run partnership before the latter was dismissed by Uttarakhand's veteran left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh.

Malewar's dismissal once again saw Vidarbha go into a slide with none of their batters able to apply themselves on a pitch that assisted spinners.

However, Rathod was in a different zone from the time he came to the crease.

Despite the Uttarakhand spinners continually challenging his patience, Rathod remained composed as wickets fell at regular intervals. He hit 16 boundaries.

Rathod's 195-ball stay ended when he became the ninth batter out clean bowled by off-spinner Avneesh Sudha.

Uttarakhand left-arm spinner Mayank Mishra emerged the most successful bowler taking three wickets for 72 runs, while Avneesh and Swapnil took two wickets each.

Earlier, Uttarakhand pacers Abhay Negi and Devendra Bora put Vidarbha in a spot of bother by grabbing two quick wickets.

But the century partnership between Rathod and Malewar put Vidarbha back on track, with the latter applying loads of caution and scoring 56 valuable runs off 116 balls with the help of five boundaries.

Brief scores:

Vidarbha 326 all out in 88 overs (Yash Rathod 135, Danish Malewar 56, Dhruv Shorey 35, Mayank Mishra 3/72, Avneesh Sudha 2/35, Swapnil Singh 2/70) vs Uttarakhand.

Offie Wakhare honouured

Earlier today, Vidarbha off-spinner Akshay Wakhare achieved the rare distinction of playing his 100th first class match (Ranji Trophy 87, Duleep Trophy 11 and Irani Cup 2). He became only the fourth Vidarbha player to play 100 first-class matches after Faiz Fazal (138), Umesh Yada (124), and Pritam Gandhe (100). He made his first-class debut against Kerala in the Ranji Trophy in Palkkad in 2006-07 season. Wakhare has so far scored 989 runs and claimed 326 wickets.