Vidarbha collapses for 170 as Avesh Khan takes four

Vidarbha surrendered their early advantage to Madhya Pradesh, losing six wickets for 36 runs.

Madhya Pradesh dominated the first day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Vidarbha in Nagpur, thanks to Avesh Khan's four-wicket haul. After being asked to bowl, the MP quicks ran through Vidarbha, bowling them out for 170. MP ended the day at 47 for 1, trailing by 123 runs.

Avesh made some early inroads when he cleaned up opener Dhruv Shorey for 13 off 12 balls in the seventh over. Atharva Taide, Shorey's opening partner, got off to a good start. He hit eight boundaries in his 63-ball stay. But his stay was short. He was caught by the wicketkeeper off a medium-paced delivery from Venkatesh Iyer for 39 runs in the 22nd over. Aman Mokhade survived for 75 deliveries but was dismissed by Avesh six overs later.

Vidarbha then suffered a collapse, losing six wickets for just 36 runs and going from 101 for 2 to 137 for 8. On Saturday, MP pacers took nine of the ten wickets, with Kulwant Kehjroliya and Iyer taking two each, while Anubhav Agarwal took one. Karun Nair resisted and scored 63 off 105 balls, hitting nine fours. He shared a 33-run ninth-wicket partnership with Umesh Yadav (0), helping Vidarbha surpass 150. However, the team only managed to survive for 56.3 overs. Left-arm spinner Kumar Karthikeya took the final wicket, limiting Vidarbha to a below-par score.

MP lost opener Yash Dubey early, trapped behind for a 22-ball 11 off Umesh's pace. At stumps, wicketkeeper Himanshu Mantri and Harsh Gawli remained unbeaten on 26 and 10 respectively. MP was in a strong position going into the second day.