JOIN USUmesh Yadav starred with a match haul of 12 for 79 as defending champion Vidarbha routed Kerala by an innings and 11 runs on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal here on Friday to reach the final for the second year running.
Kerala, who qualified for the semifinal for the first time, had a miserable outing as Yadav added five wickets to his first innings haul of 7 for 48. Vidarbha bundled out Kerala for 91 in the second innings to seal the low-scoring contest a little after lunch on the second day.
Resuming at 171 for 5, the defending champions finished at 208 all out in 52.4 overs to take the lead past the 100-run mark thanks to some lusty hitting by Yadav (17, 8 balls, 1x4, 2x6) at No 10.
However, another poor batting performance by the hosts despite a bright start provided in the second innings by K B Arun Karthick (36, 33 balls, 5x4, 1x6) 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 Yadav (5/31), taking 4 for 28 as Kerala collapsed from 59 for 1 to 66 for 7 in the space of five overs. After lunch, Yadav took two more wickets to complete the rout.
Earlier, the Kerala bowlers did well to restrict Vidarbha to 208 as Sandeep Warrier took 5 for 57. The visitors lost their last eight wickets for 38 runs in 10 overs.
Brief scores: Kerala 106 all out in 28.4 overs (Umesh Yadav 7 for 48) and 91 all out in 24.5 overs (K B Arun Karthick 36, Umesh Yadav 5/31, Yash Thakur 4/28) lost to Vidarbha 208 all out (Faiz Fazal 75, Wasim Jaffer 34, Sandeep Warrier 5/57, Basil Thampi 3/64) by an innings and 11 runs.