Ranji Trophy 2018-19: Red-hot Umesh Yadav tears Kerala apart as defending champions Vidarbha storm into final

Wayanad, Kerala: Umesh Yadav starred with a match haul of 12 for 79 as defending champions Vidarbha routed Kerala by an innings and 11 runs on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final at Wayanad on Friday to reach the final for the second year running. This was the first time Kerala qualified for the Ranji Trophy semi-final. [caption id=“attachment_5395481” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Umesh Yadav. AFP[/caption] Yadav added five wickets to his first innings haul of 7 for 48 as Vidarbha bundled out Kerala for 91 in the second innings to seal the low-scoring contest a little after lunch on the second day of the five-day semi-final. Resuming at 171 for 5, the defending champions finished at 208 all out in 52.4 overs to take the lead past the 100-run mark thanks to some lusty hitting by Yadav (17, 8 balls, 1X4, 2X6) at No 10. However, another poor batting performance by the hosts despite the bright start provided in the second innings by KB Arun Karthick (36, 33 balls, 5X4, 1X6) and Jalaj Saxena (7) resulted in a swift end to the proceedings. Kerala went into lunch at 66 for 7, trailing by 36 runs. Yash Thakur proved to be the ideal foil for Yadav (5 for 31), taking 4 for 28 as Kerala collapsed from 59 for 1 to 66 for 7 in the space of five overs. After lunch, Yadav took two more wickets to complete the rout. Kerala had begun the second innings confidently, shuffling the batting order on a pitch which had something for the bowlers. Arun Karthick batted aggressively against Yadav and Rajneesh Gurbani. The plan worked for a while Yadav broke through, having Saxena caught behind by Akshay Wadkar. Vishnu Vinod, who made the top score in the first innings, was pushed up the order to No 3, but struggled against Yadav’s pace and movement, and edged one to the slip cordon. Yash Thakur replaced Gurbani and got Karthick with a delivery that came in. The run-out of captain Sachin Baby to a direct hit put Kerala in trouble. Loss of wickets at regular intervals didn’t help the home team’s cause as Yadav and Thakur kept inflicting one blow after the other. Earlier, the Kerala bowlers did well to restrict Vidarbha to 208 as Sandeep Warrier took 5 for 57. The visiting team had lost its last eight wickets for 38 runs in 10 overs. Yadav had on Thursday destroyed Kerala in the first innings with a seven-wicket haul and returned on Friday to snuff out the host’s hopes of a fightback. Yadav had taken nine wickets in the quarter-final win over Uttarakhand. Vidarbha await the winner of the other semi-final between Karnataka and Saurashtra being played in Bengaluru.