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2017-18 Ranji Trophy, semi-final: Mithun puts Karnataka on top; Bengal-Delhi evenly poised

Mithun was the pick of the bowlers for Karnataka
Mithun was the pick of the bowlers for Karnataka

Discarded Indian pacer Abhimanyu Mithun picked up five wickets to restrict Vidharbha for just 185 in the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy semi-final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Choosing to bat first, Vidharbha top-order looked threatening to score big once again but the Karnataka seamers pulled things back on track.

When Wasim Jaffer and Ganesh Satish looked set at the wicket, Mithun returned and dismissed the latter and Apoorv Wankhade in the same over before Sreenath Arvind sent the most successful batsman in Ranji Trophy, Jaffer back to the pavilion for 39. Since then, it was just one-way traffic as Mithun ran through the Vidarbha tail and restricted them for a below-par score.

Aditya Sarvate showed some resistance with a 64-ball 47 before becoming the last batsman to be dismissed. Sarvate top-scored for Vidarbha while Mithun finished with figures of 5/45 and his skipper backing up his good work with figures of 2/36. Karnataka were off to a disastrous start as Vidarbha's new-ball pair of Umesh Yadav and RN Gurbani reduced the former Champions to 3-21 before Karun Nair and CM Gautam made sure that there were no further hiccups in the day as Karnataka ended day one at 3/36. Gurbani was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/9.

At the MCA stadium in Pune, the other semi-final between Delhi and Bengal is evenly poised as Bengal end day one at 269/7. After dismissing the in-form batsman Abhimanyu Easwaran early, Delhi bowlers were frustrated by Sudip Chatterjee, who scored a stroke-filled 83 and shared crucial partnerships with Abhishek Raman, Writtick Chatterjee and Manoj Tiwary.

All the other batsmen got starts but failed to convert them into big scores. Aamir Gani and Shreevats Goswami, who has been preferred ahead of Indian stumper Wriddhiman Saha, are at the crease and will hope to score some quick runs tomorrow. Navdeep Saini and Manan Sharma picked two wickets each for Delhi.

It is still unclear why Saha, who was allowed to play in the Ranji Trophy semi-final by the BCCI, is not a part of the Bengal playing XI in the ongoing match.  

Brief Scores:

Kolkata: Karnataka 36/3 (RN Gurbani 2/9) trail Vidarbha 185 (Adita Sarvate 47, Abhimanyu Mithun 5/45) by 149 runs.

Pune: Bengal 269/7 (Sudip Chatterjee 83, Writtick Chatterjee 47, NAvdeep Saini 2/45, Manan Sharma 2/37) vs Delhi.

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