Ranji Trophy: Wasim Jaffer, Ganesh Satish lead Vidarbha's slow reply

Bengaluru, Oct 16: Half centuries from veteran Wasim Jaffer and youngster Ganesh Satish led Vidarbha's reply to Karnataka's 350 on the 2nd day of their 4-day Group A Ranji Trophy match here today at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

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Jaffer, who moved this season from Mumbai to Vidarbha, scored 68 while Satish was unbeaten on 81 against his former state team. At stumps on Friday, Vidarbha had made a slow progress to 172/2 in 72 overs. They still trail by 178 runs and the battle for a crucial first innings lead will continue tomorrow. (Day 1 report: Karnataka 298/6)

Right-handed Satish, who was part of Karnataka's Ranji Trophy winning side in 2014, had switched to Vidarbha due to lack of chances. Now, playing at his 'home' ground, he showed lot of patience , batting for 307 minutes after walking in with his team in early trouble at 3/1 in 1.1 overs.

The 27-year-old Satish and Jaffer, 37, kept the hosts' bowlers at bay with a 117-run partnership for the 2nd wicket. Between lunch and tea the duo remained unseparated despite some tense moments when bowlers had several prolonged appeals, putting the umpires under pressure. In the entire second session there was no success for Karnataka.

They had to wait till the 2nd over (44.4 of the innings) after tea to end the partnership. Jaffer, maybe losing concentration due to the 20-minute break, was caught by Karun Nair at mid-on off left-arm spinner J Suchith. Jaffer's stay was for 206 minutes, scoring 10 boundaries in his 120-ball 68.

Satish, who had scored a century for Karnataka in the 2014 edition final, continued his dogged approach at the wicket. Determined after getting hit on the helmet off the 2nd ball, by Abhimanyu Mithun, Satish carried on in the company of his captain S Badrinath (21 not out).

Having faced 226 balls for his 81 not out, Satish's job is still not finished. He and Badrinath have to continue in the same way on Saturday.

For Karnataka, the pace trio of skipper R Vinay Kumar (0/31 in 16 overs), Mithun (1/31 in 14 overs) and left-armer S Aravind (0/32 in 15 overs), who made his international debut recently (India-South Africa T20I in Dharamsala) bowled 45 overs between them on a sluggish pitch. Only Mithun had a success, in his very first over but nothing after that.

Earlier, Karnataka resumed the day at 298/6 and were bowled out for 350 in 102.4 overs. Wicketkeeper-batsman CM Gautam scored 30 and Vinay made 22. Left-arm paceman Ravi Thakur took 4 wickets.

It was a day when Vidarbha depended on their 3 outstation professional batsmen to take the fight to the defending champions. Though, it is not over yet.

Brief scores

Karnataka 350 all out in 102.4 overs (Manish Pandey 104, Robin Uthappa 59, Karun Nair 58, CM Gautam 30, Ravi Thakur 4/50, Swapnil Bandiwar 2/74) Vs Vidarbha 172/2 in 72 overs (Ganesh Satish 81 batting, Wasim Jaffer 68, S Badrinath 21 batting, J Suchith 1/27, Abhimanyu Mithun 1/31)

Match state - Vidarbha trail by 178 runs with 8 wickets in hand and 2 days remaining

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