Vidarbha will be looking to give its Ranji Trophy knockout qualification chances an early boost when it hosts Goa at the VCA Jamtha Stadium in Nagpur in their Elite Group A match beginning on Monday, October 26.
The three-time champion returns to the home comforts of the Orange City with a spotless record thus far, having notched two wins from the opening two rounds of the competition. It began with a comfortable 160-run win over Pondicherry in its season-opener before snaring an impressive albeit nerve-wracking three-wicket victory over defending champion Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar in the last round.
Those victories were largely set up by a well-rounded bowling attack filled with recent experience in the India A and senior sides that has polished off all 40 wickets on offer thus far.
Against J&K, it opted for a four-pronged seam attack of Nachiket Bhute, Praful Hinge, Yash Thakur, and veteran Rajneesh Gurbani, who made his first appearance since returning to the side in the off-season. On the spin front, Harsh Dubey showed more of the guile that has brought him into national contention, while off-spinner Mandar Mahale partnered him on First-Class debut in the last match. Ganesh Bhonsle has also been added to the squad for this match as a slower option.
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However, Usman Ghani and his charges will be slightly concerned by the frailties the side’s top-order has shown in the first two games, finding itself five down for less than 100 in three out of its four innings.
Against Pondicherry, centuries from skipper Akshay Wadkar and Yash Rathod (who will miss this match as he is on India A duty in New Zealand) pulled it from 54 for five to 428 in the first innings, while R. Samarth’s back-against-the-wall 143 dragged it into an unlikely first-innings lead from 103 for six against J&K before it stumbled over the line in a chase of just 79 in the second essay.
While those batters did admirably to extricate it from sticky situations, Vidarbha will no doubt be keen to compile a more assured batting effort back in familiar conditions.
It faces a Goa side that is yet to open its account in this season’s Ranji Trophy. It suffered defeats at the hands of Baroda and Uttar Pradesh in its first two matches, though it will be buoyed by the performance of Yash Kasvankar, who claimed 10 wickets against UP in only his second First-Class match.
Kasvankar is part of a bowling attack that boasts the experience of Darshan Misal, Lalit Yadav and Vasuki Koushik as well, while new captain Abhinav Tejrana (who scored 788 runs at an average of 71.63 last season) is yet to fully find form this season with the bat.
The size of the task at hand for Goa is underlined by Vidarbha’s recent record at the VCA Jamtha Stadium. It is unbeaten in six matches across the last two seasons, winning five outright, but the host will do well not to take a side that scalped draws against Punjab and Karnataka last season lightly with crucial points up for grabs.
Published on Oct 25, 2026
