Ranji Trophy 2026-27: Harsh and Rekhade spin Vidarbha to an innings victory over Madhya Pradesh

Nagpur Madhya Pradesh’s batters unravelled in a horror opening session as Harsh Dubey (five for 37) and Parth Rekhade (five for 14) spun Vidarbha to an innings and 20 run victory on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match at the VCA Jamtha Stadium here on Wednesday. The visitor surrendered in a disastrous 30 minutes as the host’s left-arm spin twins caused chaos on a track with a little turn but no real demons.

M.P.’s young pair of Saksham Purohit and Atharva Mahajan rode their luck at times through the first hour, and were successful in navigating the first hour of play from the seamers. However, their luck ran out as soon as Harsh, standing in for Akshay Wadkar, brought himself into the attack and trapped Saksham leg before with one that kept a touch low.

Atharva and Shubham Sharma stitched together another 29 runs, but an ill-timed sweep from the former against Harsh triggered a collapse of shocking proportions. Atharva was adjudged leg-before, while Shubham’s attempt to punch Harsh through covers was pouched sharply by Danish Malewar.