Honours even as pacemen call shots

Karnataka in a spot after dismissing Vidarbha early; Mithun bags a five-for

Pacers from both teams made merry on a seamer-friendly track as Karnataka and Vidarbha shared honours on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal here at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.

The Karnataka pace battery thoroughly dominated their opponents after Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal decided to bat first. Vidarbha were bundled out in two sessions for 185 and Abhimanyu Mithun was the chief destroyer. The right-arm pacer bagged 5/45 while R Vinay Kumar (2/36), S Arvind (1/42), Stuart Binny (1/48) lent him able support in what was an exhibition of brilliant fast bowling from Karnataka.

Vidarbha, however, hit back through Rajneesh Gurbani. The 24-year-old was disciplined and got rid of R Samarth (6) and D Nischal (0). India speedster Umesh Yadav didn't take much time to make an impact. The right-arm quick clinched the prized cap of Mayank Agarwal (15). Vice-captain Karun Nair (6 batting) and C M Gautam (9 batting) then saw off the tough period. Karnataka though remained in a spot of bother at 36/3 when bad light ended day's play.

With batting appearing tough, Karnataka's chief goal would be to stitch partnerships. Gurbani is coming on the back of a five-wicket haul against Kerala in Surat and the Karnataka batsmen found it difficult to read the young bowler. The right-arm medium pacer's good rhythm and Umesh's vast experience will be crucial for Vidarbha.

Karnataka won a mini battle when they got rid of both the openers by the 17th over. Vinay accounted for his counterpart Fazal who was looking edgy from the start and the southpaw was trapped in front for 12. Ramaswamy perished in a similar fashion when he played across Binny.

The pacers, who received purchased generous movement and healthy bounce from the surface, kept coming hard at batsmen. Vidarbha managed to go for lunch without further damage thanks to Karnataka's sloppy fielding behind the wicket. Ramaswamy had earlier been dropped on nine by Mayank Agarwal at second slip off Vinay. The skipper was unlucky again when Ganesh Satish survived after Arvind failed to collect a low catch at first slip.

Ganesh (31) and old warhorse Wasim Jaffer (39) batted in contrasting fashions to stitch 48 runs for the third wicket. At his crafty best, Jaffer was at ease collecting runs on the backfoot while Ganesh's bid to attack saw him get boundaries off edges. In the post lunch session, Karnataka appeared a different team altogether with Mithun being the catalyst for change.

Diving to his left, Gautam took a one-handed blinder to dismiss Ganesh and hand Mithun his first wicket in the 35th over. Four balls later, Apoorv Wankhade was bowled while attempting an expansive drive. The situation worsened further for Vidarbha when they lost their key man Jaffer. He poked at an Arvind's delivery that moved away and R Samarth took an excellent low catch at second slip.

The Vidarbha lower order was clueless against the quality bowling. A fighting 41-run stand between Aditya Sarvate (47) and Akshay Wakhare (18) kept Vidarbha afloat but they fell into deep water in the 56th over thanks to Mithun. After scalping Wakhare caught behind, Mithun castled Gurbani in the very next ball. Though he missed the hat-trick, Mithun dismissed Umesh Yadav in the last ball of the over to bag his third five-wicket haul of the season.