A sparkling century by opener Amit Deshpande (126) and his 135-run third wicket partnership with captain P Vivek helped Vidarbha score 287 for the loss of five wickets on the first day of the four-day Plate group Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh in Indore on Monday.
Electing to bat, Vidarbha started their innings on a dismal note, losing opener Pravin Londhase when the scoreboard read just five runs. But the other opener, Deshpande, along with Alind Naidu, added 89 runs for the second wicket before Naidu was trapped leg before by Sanjay Pandey for exactly 50.
However, captain P Vivek joined Deshpande and together they took the hosts to comfortability.
In the meanwhile, Deshpande completed his century before being caught by veteran Narendra Hirwani off Abbas Ali for 126.
In his 320-minute stay on the wicket, Deshpande faced 204 balls and hit 17 fours and a huge six.
Vivek also scored 64 and remained not out along with Madhusudan Acharya (9) when the stumps were called for the day.
For MP, H S Sodhi claimed two wickets while Sanjay Pandey and Narendra Hirwani also chipped in with one wicket each.