About 45 minutes into the second day’s play in the Ranji Trophy 2018-19, both Karnataka and Vidarbha were bowled out, in Bengaluru and Wayanad respectively. The difference in the two venues was that while the first innings was getting done at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the second innings ended at the Krishnagiri Stadium.
Lunch Kerala 106 and 66 for 7 (Thakur 3-8, Umesh 3-26) trail Vidarbha 208 (Fazal 75, Warrier 5-57, Thampi 3-64) by 36 runs
Kerala went into lunch on the first day on 66 for 7, facing defeat with the deficit still at 36 runs. Umesh Yadav was the wrecker in chief once again, and has already taken three wickets, giving him ten for the match. Yash Thakur also took three wickets, as Kerala collapsed from 59 for 1.
Kerala had begun confidently in their second innings, changing their batting order on a pitch that still had life in it. KB Arun Karthik and Jalaj Saxena were sent to open, and Arun Karthik took charge, batting aggressively against Umesh and Rajneesh Gurbani. For a while, it looked like the tactic had worked until Umesh burst through.
Vishnu Vinod, promoted to No. 3, was all at sea against Umesh’s pace and movement, and ended up edging to the slip cordon. Yash Thakur replaced Gurbani and found success soon, sending back Arun Karthik with one that came in and rapped him on the pads in front of the stumps. Kerala made matters worse for themselves when captain Sachin Baby was run out off a direct hit, and the duo of Umesh and Thakur kept striking.
Kerala’s batting woes meant the bowlers’ good work in bowling Vidarbha out for 208 was almost forgotten, with Sandeep Warrier taking 5 for 57. Vidarbha lost their last eight wickets for 38 runs in ten overs, though Umesh enjoyed himself with the bat too, hitting Basil Thampi for two sixes to take the lead past 100. The eventual lead was 102, still sizeable but a lot less than they looked like getting when they were 170 for 2 with Faiz Fazal batting on 75.
Kerala looked like they could mount a fightback, but Vidarbha are now a step away from defending their title.
Lunch Karnataka 275 (Gopal 87, Sharath 83*, Unadkat 4-56) lead Saurashtra 63 for 2 (Snell 40*, More 2-28) by 212 runs
Saurashtra made a solid start after bowling Karnataka out for 275, reaching 63 for 2 at lunch. Karnataka’s overnight pair of S Sharath and Ronit More batted for 10.3 overs in the morning, before Dharmendrasinh Jadeja got More to edge to slip. Karnataka added only 11 runs to their overnight total, and Sharath remained unbeaten on 83.
There were no demons in the pitch, and Saurashtra’s openers survived the new ball to put on 43 in 9.5 overs before More struck.
Snell Patel, batting on 40 at lunch, had induced a finger injury for Abhimanyu Mithun, who hurt his finger while trying to stop a straight drive in his follow-through. That meant More came on at first change a bit earlier, but it worked to Karnataka’s advantage. More has been the most successful bowler for Karnataka this season, and he made the breakthrough when he had Harvik Desai pushing outside off for Manish Pandey to take a sharp catch at second slip.
More had further success when he got Vishwaraj Jadeja to poke at one in the channel on the last ball before lunch, to give Karnataka some heart. However, they will have to find a way past Cheteshwar Pujara now, if they are to stay in the match.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo