Ranji Trophy: Vinay's five-for sinks Punjab

Hosts Punjab frittered away the advantage of solid opening stand as they were all out for 270 as Karnataka captain R Vinay Kumar ran through the middle-order with a five-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Mohali.

It was a dramatic collapse for the hosts, who were cruising along at 223 for three as they lost their last seven wickets for only 37 runs with Vinay grabbing five of those.

The India discard had figures of five for 27 in eight overs to get his 13th five-for in furst-class cricket.

For Punjab, Jiwanjot Singh (74) while Manan Vohra contributed 51 runs. Out of favour Yuvraj Singh looked good during his innings of 42 before a rash shot brought about his downfall.

At stumps on the second day, Punjab bowlers hit back removing opener KL Rahul (4) and one down batsman Mayank Agarwal (0) reducing them to 39 for two in 22.4 overs when umpires decided to call off day's proceedings.

With a full day's play lost, the first innings lead will be a crucial factor in this match as Karnataka have seasoned opener Robin Uthappa (25 batting) at the crease along with the talented Manish Pandey (8 batting).

While Rahul fished at an away swinger from Manpreet Gony with lack of decisive footwork, Agarwal chased at a fuller delivery from Jaskaran Singh, which pitched way outside off-stump as Gitansh Khera took his second catch.

Opting to field, Karnataka seamers Vinay and Abhimanyu Mithun (0/34) didn't make much inroads as openers Manan and in-form Jiwanjot scored 85 runs. Manan brought up his half century off only 48 balls as Punjab were scoring at a rate of above four runs per over.

Manan, who is one of the three uncapped players to have been retained by an IPL franchise (Kings XI Punjab), was aggressive from the start as he hit military medium pacer Ronit More for six of his eight boundaries.

He regularly beat the off-side cordon. He also hit a couple of more boundaries off Manish Pandey and leggie Shreyash Gopal.

Manan in fact pulled Gopal over mid-wicket for a huge six. More however had the last laugh when Manan got an edge trying to drive the bowler on the up and the nick was taken by CM Gautam behind the stumps.

Former India U-19 opener Taruwar Kohli (25) along with Jiwanjot added 53 runs for the second wicket before the former was caught at short cover by Rahul.

Jiwanjot hit 12 boundaries in his 74 with shots all round the wicket. He also played some deft cut shots but finally was gone when he was cramped for room by Gopal with a leg-break that was pitched on right length and didn't turn enough. The Patiala opener tried to cut the delivery but the inside edge crashed onto the stumps. Jiwanjot faced 121 balls in his innings.

Yuvraj looked in his element as pulled Gopal over mid-wicket for a six and another mistimed pull-shot also landed cleared the ropes. He also hit Gopal for a couple of more boundaries in 56-ball stay.

However the experienced campaigner lost his cool when he could dispose off a full-toss from Gopal as he hit it straight to the throat of mid-wicket. With Yuvraj, Punjab suddenly lost wickets in a heap as Vinay got into action taking four of the next five wickets.

At 244 for nine, it was Jaskaran, who struck a few meaty blows as the score reached 270 before Vinay ended the Punjab innings with his fifth wicket.

Scoreboard

Punjab 1st innings

M Vohra c Gautam b More 51

J Singh b Gopal 74

T Kohli c Rahul b Gopal 25

Y Singh c Gopal b Verma 42

M Singh lbw b Vinay 17

G Singh c Gautam b Vinay 8

G Khera c Pandey b Vinay 0

H Singh c Rahul b Vinay 7

S Sharma not out 5