It’s the business end of the Ranji Trophy season, as we are down to the final four teams. The two semi-finals started on Sunday and here’s a round up of the action from Delhi and Pune.

Flurry of wickets in Kolkata

Abhimanyu Mithun claimed a third five-for of the season as Vidarbha collapsed for 185 before Karnataka were left reeling at 36 for three on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semi-final in Kolkata on Sunday.

Mithun returned with brilliant figures of 16-6-45-5, his 11th five-wicket haul, and was finely aided by skipper R Vinay Kumar (2/36) as Karnataka bundled out Vidarbha under 200 in 61.4 overs.

But the eight-time Ranji champions were tottering at 36 for three in 14 overs when bad light stopped play.

Karnataka still trail Vidarbha by 149 runs with four days play still remaining.

Young Rajneesh Gurbani (2/9) put up a fine display of pace bowling under the shadow of Umesh Yadav (1/22) as 13 wickets fell on the eventful opening day on a green Eden top.

Karnataka’s in-form openers R Samarth and Mayank Agarwal returned to the pavilion with the scoreboard reading 21, while D Nischal was cleaned up for a duck in his comeback match after being beaten by a nice pace variation by Gurbani.

At close vice-captain Karun Nair was batting on six alongside wicket-keeper batsman CM Gautam (9).

Having caught up by a traffic jam due to Kolkata 25K run event that caused a 30-minute delay in start of the match, Vidarbha surprised all and sundry when skipper Faiz Fazal opted to bat on a green top.

Vidarbha were going steady on 49 for two after some early morning jitters when Mithun opened the gates in the third over after lunch striking with his first and sixth balls.

Mithun’s first victim was Ganesh Satish (31) who edged one behind the stumps and wicketkeeper C M Gautam latched on to a one-handed diving catch to his left.

Apoorv Wankhade (1) followed suit after an inside edge off Mithun while S Aravind took the prized scalp of veteran Wasim Jaffer (39) as he took an outside edge playing forward to be caught by R Samarth at second slip.

Mithun was on fire in his third spell of 4-0-12-3 as he took three scalps in a single over to reduce Vidarbha to 171 for nine. Aditya Sarvate and Akshay Wakhare were going steady before Mithun’s burst ensured a collapse.

Mithun was even on a hat-trick but Umesh kept out the hat-trick ball before falling to the same bowler off the final delivery of the over.

Vidarbha’s top scorer Aditya Sarvate (47) was caught in the cover with spinner Shreyas Gopal taking the last wicket. The underdogs were bolstered by the return of Umesh Yadav but Fazal’s decision to bat denied the India pacer a chance to make full use of the conditions on offer.

Karnataka skipper Vinay Kumar drew the first blood, trapping his Vidarbha counterpart and leading run-getter Fazal for 12. Stuart Binny then removed another in-form batsman Sanjay Ramaswamy for 22.

Brief Scores:

Vidarbha: 185 all out in 61.4 overs (Aditya Sarwate 47; Abhimanyu Mithun 5/45) vs Karnataka: 36/3 in 14 overs.

Manoj, Sudeep dismissals peg Bengal back

Atrocious shot selection from skipper Manoj Tiwary and his deputy Sudeep Chatterjee saw Delhi take control of the proceedings, restricting Bengal to 273 for 7 on day one of the Ranji Trophy semifinal in Pune on Sunday.

On a pitch where there was good carry but no demons, Bengal batsmen batted comfortably till they committed harakiri in the final session.

Bengal were comfortably placed at 200 for 3 when a couple of innocuous deliveries from left-arm spinner Manan Sharma (2/37 in 13 overs) changed the complexion of the match.

Having added 68 for the fourth wicket, Tiwary looking set on 30, decided to give Manan the charge. It was bowled with a flatter trajectory and Tiwary charged out. His intention was to loft the spinner over mid on but what he played was a chip shot. Himmat Singh took the easiest of catches at mid on.

If that wasn’t enough, Chatterjee, who was on 83, played an even more irresponsible shot in Manan’s very next over. A rank half-tracker saw Sudeep rock back trying to smash one through covers which substitute Unmukt Chand plucked inches above the ground.

Chatterjee’s 162 ball innings had 10 fours but he lost out on a golden opportunity to prove his mettle on a big stage with national selector Sarandeep Singh in attendance. He also shared 78 runs for the third wicket with Writtick Chatterjee (47) with the latter being adjudged leg before off Vikas Tokas.

More importantly, the momentum shifted in favour of Delhi once Manoj and Chatterjee were gone. Anushtup Majumdar (32) was graceful till he was at the crease with some lovely flick shots.

However Navdeep Saini (2/45 in 17 overs)‘s raw pace exposed Majumdar’s weakness against fast bowling. An off-cutter came in a shade at good pace and Anushtup couldn’t get his bat down to leave his off stump dislodged.

Saini had also got Abhimanyu Easwaran (4) in the first session with a quick delivery.

Kulwant Khejroliya’s (1/57 in 17 overs) bouncer tactic also paid dividends when B Amit tried the ramp shot which was pouched by Manan at deep third man.

“I knew Manoj loves to hit spinners over the top. But I didn’t know that he would give me the charge so soon. About Sudeep, I can say there are times when even good balls don’t get us wickets. So I won’t mind if that ball got me one,” Manan said after the match.

With Wriddhiman Saha ruled out due to viral fever and body pain, Shreevats Goswami (19 batting) was persisted with.

He survived a barrage of short pitched deliveries and will look to take his team to a respectable score when play resumes.

Brief Scores:

Bengal 273/7 in 87 overs (Sudeep Chatterjee 83, Writtick Chatterjee 47, Manan Sharma 2/37, Navdeep Saini 2/45) vs Delhi.

(With PTI inputs)