Vidarbha fight back, Gurbani bags his 2nd five-wicket haul of the season

SURAT: Uprooting the stumps, grabbing catch on follow through, stunning batsman with sharp bouncers, inducing edges and taking wickets in quick succession, Rajneesh Gurbani was the man of the moment on Saturday.
The Vidarbha spinners toiled throughout the first session with the trio of Karn Sharma, Akshay Wakhare and Aditya Sarvate taking a wicket each.The Ranji quarterfinal match at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium was wide open with Kerala at 123 for 5 at lunch on Day 3.
Just after 10 overs of the second session, Gurbani’s burst tilted the scales in Vidarbha’s favour. The medium pacer, with a five-wicket haul, blew away Kerala for 176 to give Vidarbha a 70-run lead and put them as the firm favourites. The Vidarbha batsmen put up a much-improved show in the second innings. At stumps, Vidarbha reached 77 for 1. Skipper Faiz marched to another fifty as he returned unbeaten along with night watchman Akshay Wakhare when bad light stopped the play.
Earlier on Saturday, every time Wakhare was hit for a six, Faiz immediately took the offspinner out of the attack. That’s how Gurbani got the ball after KB Arun Karthick hit a big six over long-on in the second session.
A few overs later, Karthick became Gurbani’s first victim of the day. Karthick slashed hard at a full and wide delivery. Apoorv Wankhade made no mistake at gully.
From there on, it was all Gurbani show. He took a wicket in each of his next three overs. Gurbani’s heroics meant that Kerala had lost their last five wickets for just 12 runs.
Kerala skipper Sachin Baby became Gurbani’s third victim as he played straight into the bowler’s hand. Basil Thampi hardly had no clue about his leg stump that was sent cartwheeling by a Gurbani delivery that slanted in late.
The first ball of his next over, Gurbani bowled a perfect bouncer giving no option to Akshay KC but to glove it to wicketkeeper Akshay Wadkar. Next, Wakhare’s accurate hit caught Salman Nazir short of crease as Kerala folded up in the second session.
The earlier session saw Kerala batsmen showing positive intent but none going on to make a meaningful contribution. The three men—Jalaj Saxena, Sanju Samson and Rohan Prem— dismissed were the ones who had done most of the scoring this season. With the scoreboard reading 123 for 5, Vidarbha sensed a chance to make a comeback.
Off spinner Akshay Wakhare was introduced in the 14th over of the day. Six overs later, Karn Sharma got the ball. It took him just four balls to induce an edge off Prem. The Kerala No. 4 went for a cut but the ball hurried on him and Wasim Jaffer at slip finished the job perfectly. Kerala were reduced to 71-3.
Sanju Samson—all fresh, having faced just a couple of deliveries—repeatedly charged down to Wakhare and Sharma to unsettle them. However, Samson looked edgy in defense whenever he stayed back in the crease. Sarvate exploited the chink and caught him in front of the wicket. A couple of overs later, Wakhare slanted one across Jalaj and the batsman poked at it. Substitute Shalabh Shrivastava took a sharp low catch to reduce Kerala to 117 for 5. The sixth wicket pair of Baby and Karthick didn’t allow the bowlers to make further inroads till lunch.
SCOREBOARD
Vidarbha (1st Innings): 246.
Kerala (1st Innings, overnight 32-2): Jalaj Saxena c sub (S Shrivastava) b Wakhare 40, Rohan Prem c Jaffer b Sharma 29, S Samson lbw b Sarvate 32, Sachin Baby c & b Gurbani 29, KB Arun Karthik c Wankhade b Gurbani 21, Salman Nizar run out (Wakhare) 7, Basil Thampi b Gurbani 2, KC Akshay c Wadkar b Gurbani 1, MD Nidheesh not out 0.
Extras: (lb 5, nb 2) 7.
Total: (all out, 61.5 Overs) 176.
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-24, 3-71, 4-115, 5-117, 6-165, 7-166, 8-170, 9-172.
Bowling: Lalit Yadav 5-0-19-1, R Gurbani 14-6-38-5, A Sarwate 11-3-16-1, A Wakhare 20.5-0-55-1, F Fazal 1-0-9-0, K Sharma 10-0-34-1.
Vidarbha (2nd Innings): F Fazal batting 51, R Sanjay c Samson b Saxena 14, A Wakhare batting 7.
Extras: (b 4, lb 1) 5.
Total: (1 wickets, 30 overs) 77.
Fall of wicket: 1-53.
Bowling: Sandeep Warrier 5-2-9-0, Basil Thampi 5-0-20-0, MD Nidheesh 6-2-17-0, KC Akshay 5-3-9-0, Jalaj Saxena 9-3-17-1.