Ranji Trophy 2017-18: Contrasting day for Karnataka-Vidarbha; Bengal decent against Delhi
Updated - 17 Dec 2017, 07:20 PM
As the bad light stopped the day one play of the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2017-18 season at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Karnataka was reeling at 36 for three in 14 overs, as the side is trailing by 149 runs in the first innings.
The pendulum swung back and kept on fluctuating during the day in the first semi-final between Karnataka-led by Vinay Kumar and Faiz Fazal’s Vidarbha.
When bails were removed from the groove, Karun Nair was batting on six off 22 balls, and gloveman CM Gautam posted nine on the board after facing 17 deliveries.
Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal, who has been in red-hot form, was dismissed cheaply on 15 off 19 balls when Umesh Yadav trapped him in front of the wickets.
Opener Ravikumar Samarth walked back to the hut after 20-ball six, as top-order batsman Dega Nischal was dismissed for nought when Gurbani clean him up.
(Read Also: Ravi Shastri unplugged: Indian coach describes his players in one-word)
Highly impressive Rajneesh Gurbani picked two wickets as the fast bowler after giving away nine runs in six overs.
Earlier, coming to bat on a seaming track, Vidarbha batting line-up struggled early on which further saw them being strangulated on 185 in 61.4 overs.
The 28-year-old right-arm fast bowler Abhimanyu Mithun was the protagonist with the ball, who further claimed a fifer. The promising bowler conceded 45 runs in 16 overs.
On the other side, Karnataka skipper Vinay, who’s also the bowling spearhead for his state-side, picked two wickets, as Sreenath Arvind, Stuart Binny and Shreyas Gopal shared wicket apiece.
Karnataka bowlers made things difficult for the Vidarbha batters which further saw the side losing three wickets at the same score of 171.
For Vidarbha, Aditya Sarwate was the top-scorer 47 off 64 balls. The right-handed batsman smashed seven boundaries in his hard-fought knock.
Opener Fazal alongside Sanjay Ramaswamy just managed to score 22 for the first wicket when Fazal was trapped in front of the stumps which saw on-field umpire raising the dreaded finger on the bowling of his counterpart.
The 22-year-old Ramaswamy scored 44-ball 22 before Stuart Binny removed him.
Wasim Jaffer faced the most number of balls in Vidarbha’s innings. He scored 39 off 85 balls before being caught by Ravikumar Samarth on the bowling of Sreenath Arvind.
The middle-order batsman Ganesh Satish scored 31 off 56 balls as he was dismissed by Mithun when CM Gautam completed a regulation catch.
Bengal Vs Delhi – Semi Final: Ranji Trophy 2017-18:
(Read Further: IND vs SL, 3rd ODI: India fights back to dismiss SL for 215)
In another semi-final fixture of the Ranji Trophy 2017-18 in Pune, Bengal batted first, and the Manoj Tiwary-led side posted decent 269 for seven in 87 overs.
When three overs were scheduled to be bowled, the umpires brought out the light meter which suggested the conditions were not good enough to continue the play.
The wicket-keeper batsman Shreevats Goswami was batting on nine off 19 balls, as Amir Gami scored run-a-ball four.
Earlier, Bengal didn’t entertain with the start they would have had wanted to, as the side lost the first wicket in the form of Abhimanyu Easwaran (4 off 10).
The 26-year-old left-handed batsman Sudip Chatterjee was the top-scorer with 88 runs.
The top-order batsman Chatterjee faced 162 balls as his innings included ten boundaries.
Manoj Tiwary scored 30 off 59 balls which saw him being caught by Himmat Singh on the bowling Manan Sharma.
The double-centurion in the quarterfinal Writtick Chatterjee scored 85-ball 47 which saw him being removed by Vikas Tokas.
The left-arm orthodox spinner Manan Sharma alongside fast bowler Navdeep Sani claimed two wickets each.
Vikas Mishra, Vikas Tokas, and Kulwant Khejroliya picked a wicket each.
Get detailed scorecard here:
