Vidarbha inch closer to maiden Ranji final

KOLKATA: Vidarbha stood on the verge of making their maiden Ranji Trophy final as they left fancied Karnataka, chasing 198, in a spot of bother at 111 for seven on the fourth day of their lastfour clash, here on Wednesday. At stumps on the penultimate day, Karnataka skipper R Vinay Kumar (19) and Shreyas Gopal (1) were batting at the Eden.

Resuming at 195 for four and with a lead of only 79, Vidarbha relied on a solid 55 from Aditya Sarwate to reach 313.

Chasing a modest total with more than a day to spare, Karnataka were off to a disastrous start as they lost Mayank Agarwal (3), Ravikumar Samarth (24) and Dega Nischal (7).

Karun Nair (30 off 41 balls) was caught behind off Gurbani and as CM Gautam was dismissed, Karnataka, seeking to reach their third Ranji final in five years, found themselves in a

precarious position.

Both Gurubani and Siddesh Neral extracted a lot of movement and bounce from the fourth day pitch.

At tea Karnataka were 69/3 with Nair and Gautam in the middle. First-innings centurion Nair and Gautam tried to forge a partnership but Nair departed after making a fluent 30. Wickets fell in regular intervals for Karnataka with the batsmen looking clueless against Gurbani.

Earlier, Satish and Akshay Wadkar stitched a partnership of 72 runs for the fifth wicket to stretch Vidarbha’s lead.