Ranji Trophy 2017: Abhimanyu Mithun picks fifer on field day for bowlers

The most fascinating aspect of the Ranji Trophy is that it serves up youngsters with serious potential; many of them go on to play international cricket. Gurbani made his first-class debut last season, when he was 24 years old. His late entry to cricket was down to pursuing a BE degree – Gurbani is a qualified civil engineer. The lithe and slight-of-build fast bowler surprised with the pace he generated off the wicket.

Gurbani has a smooth action, natural swing both ways and his front knee doesn’t collapse at the point of release, allowing him to skid the ball off the deck. He took out R Samarth with a gem of an out-swinger that also climbed off a length. The Karnataka opener was good enough to manage a feather to Vidarbha ‘keeper Akshay Wadkar. The delivery that breached D Nischal’s defence and knocked out the middle stump was an in-dipper. Three wickets for just 36 runs was a strong response from Vidarbha after they were all out for 185, electing to bat first on a greenish track.

The bat-first decision offered enough for criticism, but Vidarbha coach Chandrakant Pandit is widely regarded as one of the best on the domestic circuit in terms of reading pitches. The Eden surface played faster once the morning dampness dissipated. That was the reason Mithun, a hit-the-deck bowler, looked a lot more potent after the lunch break.

His wickets came in clusters. In the third over after the break, Mithun dismissed a well-set Ganesh Satish with a delivery that targeted the batsman’s ribcage, took the inside edge and ended in Karnataka stumper CM Gautam’s gloves. Five balls hence, Mithun made one cut back sharply to castle Apoorv Wankhade.

Then, Mithun rolled over the Vidarbha lower order with three wickets in four balls. Akshay Wakhare poked at a wide delivery to be caught behind. A beauty of a leg-cutter clean bowled Gurbani next ball. Umesh narrowly survived the hat-trick ball but nicked the next one to substitute Kaunain Abbas at first slip. It was a strong comeback for Mithun after an insipid first spell that saw him go wicketless, conceding 18 runs in five overs. His second spell figures read: 7-3-15-2 and his third spell was even better: 4-0-12-3. It was Mithun’s third five-for of the season.

Earlier, Vidarbha, stuck in traffic, arrived late at the ground. Some roads were off limits for vehicles in the morning because of the Kolkata 25k marathon and the Vidarbha team’s journey from their south Kolkata hotel was delayed by half an hour. The toss had to be subsequently rescheduled to 9.15 am and the match started at 9.30, 30 minutes behind schedule. And as bad light forced an early close of play, only 75.4 overs could be bowled on Day One.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 185 all out in 61.4 overs (A Sarvate 47; A Mithun 5/45, Vinay Kumar 2/36) vs Karnataka 36/3 in 14 overs (R Gurbani 2/9)