Karnataka romp through to Plate Group final

Only a fool wishing to be parted with his money particularly speedily would have plonked it down on Vidarbha winning the semi-final against Karnataka on the fifth day of the match. The most the home crowd could have wished for was a draw, but even that would have to be earned with sweat and grit. As it turned out, however, Karnataka shot down Vidarbha's resistance rather easily, romping through to the Ranji Trophy Plate group final by a whopping margin of 465 runs.

Karnataka skipper J Arunkumar declared overnight on 607 for nine, wishing to give his bowlers the entire day to effect the win. They certainly had the runs behind them; Vidarbha trailed by a massive 735 runs, with two bowlers having conceded over 100 runs in their second-innings efforts.

Vidarbha openers AV Deshpande and VC Naidu put on 70 runs in 18.2 overs for the first wicket, but once the spinners started to operate, it was only a matter of time. RS Paradkar and RS Jadhav offered some resistance, putting together 73 runs for the fourth wicket, but after Jadhav fell for 51 (62b, 7x4, 3x6) with the score on 231, matters slid rapidly downhill.

Paradkar ended up making 70 off 160 balls, with 11 fours, but it was not enough by far. Madhusudan Acharya and Pritam Gandhe were absent hurt, so the Vidarbha innings ended on 270 in 78.5 overs. For Karnataka, Sunil Joshi and offie Udit Brijesh Patel took four wickets each, breaking the back of the Vidarbha batting order and seeing their side through to the Ranji Trophy plate group final.