Ranji Trophy: Vidarbha virtually book semi-final berth

SURAT: Centuries from captain Faiz Fazal (119) and Apoorv Wankhade (107) enabled Vidarbha take a firm control of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final match against Kerala at the end of the fourth day's play here.
At the close of play, Vidarbha were comfortably placed at 431 for six, with an overall lead of 501 runs.
Resuming on 77 for one, overnight batsman Fazal, starting at a personal score of 51, went on score a 209-ball 119 that included 15 hits to the fence.
Wasim Jaffer (58) and Ganesh Satish (65) then contributed with half-centuries each, while lower-order batsman Wankhade's quick-fire 107 that came off just 94 deliveries, studded with six boundaries and five sixes, put the hosts in the driver's seat.
Akshay Wadkar was batting on 20 and Karn Sharma was unbeaten on 4 when the stumps were drawn.
With Vidarbha already having taken a first-innings lead, they have all but made it to the semi-finals.
For Kerala, Jalaj Saxena chipped in with three for 106.
Brief scores:
Vidarbha: 246 & 431/6 in 124 overs (Faiz Fazal 119, Apoorv Wankhade 107, Ganesh Satish 65, Wasim Jaffer 58; Jalaj Saxena 3/106).
Kerala 1st innings: 176 all out.