Spin dominated as Harsh Dubey (nine for 53) recorded the best figures by a Vidarbha bowler in the history of Ranji Trophy on the opening day of its Elite Group A match against Madhya Pradesh at the VCA Jamtha Stadium.

The visitor opted to bat, but soon lost Yash Dubey fell, strangled down leg by Nachiket Bhute. After his dismissal, Saksham Purohit and Chanchal Rathore opted to deadbat the remainder of the first hour.

The breakthrough arrived when Dubey entered his second spell, trapping Chanchal leg-before, while Saksham followed shortly after, caught at slip.

Rajat Patidar arrived at the crease and received an early lifeline when Akshay Wadkar shelled a tough chance, but soon departed after he drilled a backfoot punch to cover, while Shubham Sharma also popped a catch to short-leg.

Atharva Mahajan (85, 123b, 5x4, 3x6) and Saransh Jain took it upon themselves to land a counterpunch, and dispatched Bhute and Dubey to the boundary twice each before lunch, and they retained the tempo post-resumption.

However, Dubey intervened, trapping Saransh in front just before Atharva raised his maiden First Class fifty from 80 balls.

He elicited a return catch from Arshad Khan and deceived Kumar Kartikeya Singh into holing out, before eventually capitalising on the rising pressure to remove Atharva with an edge to first slip.

He then completed his haul, castling Ravi Kiran to bring the MP innings to a halt at 209.

MP remains alive in the game though, as Kartikeya immediately sent openers Aman Mokhade and Satyam Bhoyar packing. R. Samarth found backward-point after a brief resistance with Dhruv Shorey before Kartikeya trapped Danish Malewar in front.

Shorey and captain Wadkar were forced to ride their luck towards the end of the day, but reached stumps having prevented any further damage.

The scores: Madhya Pradesh – 1st innings: Yash Dubey c Wadkar b Bhute 5, Saksham Purohit c Samarth b Dubey 21, Chanchal Rathore lbw Dubey 13, Shubham Sharma c Malewar b Dubey 16, Rajat Patidar c Mokhade b Dubey 2, Atharva Mahajan c Samarth b Dubey 85, Saransh Jain lbw Dubey 34, Arshad Khan c & b Dubey 12, Kumar Kartikeya Singh c Bhute b Dubey 7, Avesh Khan (not out) 13, Ravi Kiran b Dubey 1; Total (in 66.1 overs): 209.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-32, 3-43, 4-47, 5-64, 6-136, 7-166, 8-180, 9-201.

Vidarbha bowling: Dubey 23.1-4-53-9, Bhute 12-1-46-1, Gurbani 11-2-30-0, Nalkande 6-0-25-0, Mokhade 5-0-13-0, Rekhade 9-0-42-0.

Vidarbha – 1st innings: Satyam Bhoyar c Patidar b Kartikeya 8, Aman Mokhade c Chanchal b Kartikeya 0, R. Samarth c Yash b Avesh 17, Dhruv Shorey (batting) 21, Danish Malewar lbw Kartikeya 0, Akshay Wadkar (batting) 9; Extras (wd-1): 1; Total (for four wkts. in 23 overs): 56.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-8, 3-34, 4-35.

Madhya Pradesh bowling: Kartikeya 10-2-23-3, Avesh 6-1-11-1, Saransh 5-0-15-0, Ravi Kiran 2-0-7-0.