Umesh destroys Kerala as Vidarbha storm into Ranji final

Umesh Yadav starred with a match haul of 12/79 as defending champion Vidarbha routed Kerala by an innings and 11 runs shortly after lunch on Day 2 to storm into the Ranji Trophy final for the second year in a row, in Wayanad, on Friday.

Umesh added five wickets to his first innings haul of 7/48 as Vidarbha bundled out Kerala for 91 in the second innings to seal the low-scoring on the second day of the five-day semi-final.

Resuming at 171 for 5, Vidarbha finished at 208 all out in 52.4 overs to take the first innings lead past the 100-run mark thanks to some lusty hitting by Yadav at No. 10 as he smashed 17 from eight balls.

However, another poor batting performance by the host despite the bright start provided in the second innings by K B Arun Karthick (36) and Jalaj Saxena (7) resulted in a swift end to the proceedings.

Kerala went into lunch at 66 for 7, trailing by 36 runs.

Yash Thakur proved to be the ideal foil for Umesh (5 for 31), taking 4 for 28 as Kerala collapsed from 59 for 1 to 66 for 7, losing six wickets in the space of five overs.

After lunch, Umesh took two more wickets to complete the rout.

Kerala had begun the second innings confidently, shuffling the batting order on a pitch which had something for the bowlers. Arun Karthick batted aggressively against Umesh and Rajneesh Gurbani.

The plan worked for a while Umesh broke through, having Saxena caught behind by Akshay Wadkar.

Vishnu Vinod, who made the top score in the first innings, was pushed up the order to No. 3, but struggled against Umesh's pace and movement, and edged one to the slip cordon.

Yash Thakur replaced Gurbani and got Karthick with a delivery that came in.

The run-out of captain Sachin Baby to a direct hit put Kerala in trouble. Loss of wickets at regular intervals didn't help the home team's cause as Umesh and Thakur kept striking one blow after the other.

Earlier, the Kerala bowlers did well to restrict Vidarbha to 208 as Sandeep Warrier took 5 for 57. The visiting team lost its last eight wickets for 38 runs in 10 overs.

Umesh had on Thursday destroyed Kerala in the first innings with a seven-wicket haul and he once again proved to be wrecker-in-chief with the ball.

Umesh continued his good form with the ball, having  taken nine wickets in the quarter-final win over Uttarakhand.

Vidarbha awaits the winner of the other semi-final between Karnataka and Saurashtra being played in Bengaluru.

Brief scores:

Kerala 105 all out and 91 all out (Umesh Yadav 5 for 31, Yash Thakur 4 for 28) lost to Vidarbha 208 all out (Faiz Fazal 75, Wasim Jaffer 34, Sandeep Warrier 5 for 57) by an innings and 11 runs.

Pacer More gives Karnataka edge

Pacer Ronit More ripped apart the Saurashtra middle and lower order with a five-for to give Karnataka an upper hand in their Ranji Trophy semifinals in Bengaluru.

Resuming at 264 for nine, Karnataka's first innings folded for 275 with Srinivas Sharath remaining unbeaten on 83.

In reply, the visitors were off to a decent start on the second day but More, who has been Karnataka's go-to man this season, produced devastating spells to reduce them to 227 for seven at stumps, still trailing by 48 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Opener Snell Patel produced a solid knock of 85 and later Australia Test series hero Cheteshwar Pujara (45) batted doggedly with Sheldon Jackson (46).

More first removed Harvik Desai (16) to break an opening stand of 43 and later added the wicket of Vishvaraj Jadeja (5).

A partnership was stitched between Patel and Pujara but leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal removed the opening batsman.

Pujara, when on 1, survived a confident caught-behind appeal, which was turned down by umpire Saiyed Khalid.

Pujara later gave a caught and bowled chance to Abhimanyu Mithun, who grabbed it with both hands.

Saurashtra lost three more wickets for addition of mere 49 runs with More dismissing Jackson, Prerak Mankad (0) and Kamlesh Makvana (1) in a jiffy.

Arpit Vasavada (26) was at the crease and it was only because of his brisk scoring that Saurashtra crossed the 200-run mark. He has hit four boundaries in his 32-ball knock so far.

More, who has a few five-wicket hauls to his credit, has a good chance to claim his career-best figures by contributing in polishing off the Saurashtra tail.

Brief Scores:

Karnataka 1st innings: 275 all out in 100.3 overs (S Gopal 87, S Sharath 83 not out; J Unadkat 4/56)

Saurashtra 1st innings: 227 for 7 in 66.3 overs (Snell Patel 85, R More 5/54).