Ranji Trophy: Umesh shines for Vidarbha; Karnataka reach 264/9

Vidarbha, who were 171/5 at stumps, took a 65-run lead against Kerala on Day 1 of the first semi-final of the ongoing Ranji Trophy at the Krishnagiri Stadium here on Thursday.

Opting to bowl, Vidarbha bundled out the hosts for a paltry 106 runs, thanks to Umesh's exceptional bowling effort. The pacer emerged with figures of 7/48 to demolish the Kerala batting line-up as just three batsmen were able to touch the two-digit mark.

Vidarbha opener and skipper Faiz Fazal then played a 75-run knock and some meagre contributions from the middle order saw the visitors reaching 171 runs when the day ended.

Meanwhile in the second semi-final, Karnataka were 264/9 against Saurashtra when stumps were drawn at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.

Disciplined bowling by Saurashtra saw the hosts suffering a top-order collapse. However, skipper Manish Pandey (62), Shreyas Gopal (87) and Srinivas Sharath (74 batting) stepped up when it mattered the most to help Karnataka escape an early downfall.

For the visitors, pacer Jaydev Unadkat and off-spinner Kamlesh Makvana bagged four and three wickets respectively, while Chetan Sakariya and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja took one wicket each.

Brief scores:

Vidarbha 171/5 (Faiz Fazal 75, Wasim Jaffer 34; Sandeep Warrier 2/46) lead by 65 runs vs Kerala 106 all out (Vishnu Vinod 37, Sachin Baby 22; Umesh Yadav 7/48) on Day 1.

Karnataka 264/9 (Shreyas Gopal 87, Srinivas Sharath 74 batting; Jaydev Unadkat 4/50) vs Saurashtra on Day 1.

--IANS

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