Ranji Trophy Semi-Final Day 4 Round-up: Vidarbha inch ahead in thrilling contest
The fourth day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final at Kolkata saw a gutsy display from the under-rated Vidarbha side. After trailing by 116 runs in the first innings, day three had ended with Vidarbha being marginally ahead. Ganesh Satish, unbeaten overnight, could add only fourteen to be dismissed for 85 by an Abhimanyu Mithun bouncer which he miscued to give the fine leg a catch.
Stuart Binny and captain Vinay Kumar then had Vidarbha 8 down for 245. But number seven Aditya Sarwate remained solid at one end to accumulate crucial lower-order runs - 38 and 30 runs for last two wickets to take the score to 313. When he fell for 55 at lunch, that left Karnataka needing 198 to reach the final.
In only the third over of the chase though, Umesh Yadav removed this season's highest run-getter Mayank Agarwal; and very soon, Vidarbha sensed a miracle when Karnataka, from 35/1, went down to 104/7 with Karun Nair (30) top scoring. Pacer Rajneesh Gurbani scythed through their middle order to bag the last four wickets of the day and finish with 4/35.
Siddhesh Neral complemented him well with 2/37 as the fourth day ended with Karnataka on a dicey 111/7 with their captain as their only hope.
Brief Scores: Karnataka 301 (Nair 153; Gurbani 5/94) and 111/7 (Nair 30; Gurbani 4/35) need 87 more runs to beat Vidarbha 185 (Sarwate 47; Mithun 5/45) and 313 (Satish 81; Vinay Kumar 3/71)