Umesh Yadav destroyed Kerala with a fiery spell, picking up seven wickets as Vidarbha took control on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Krishnagiri stadium in Wayanad on Thursday.

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Wayanad:

The defending champion reached 171 for 5 in 45 overs after winning the toss and bundling out Kerala for 105 in the first innings.

Yadav, who was part of the India team that won the Test series in Australia recently, ran through the host batting line-up, took a personal best 7 for 48 as the host folded for 106 in just 28.4 overs with just three players reaching double figures.

Vishnu Vinod, captain Sachin Baby and Basil Thampi were the only Kerala batsmen to make double digit scores.

On a pitch which was on the bouncier side, the burly pacemen posed the Kerala batsmen a lot of trouble and was ably assisted by Rajneesh Gurbani (3 for 38), the star of Vidarbha’s maiden Ranji triumph last season.

Yadav also reached the 100-wicket milestone in Ranji Trophy during his brilliant spell.

Brief scores: Kerala 106 all out (Umesh Yadav 7/48) vs Vidarbha 171/5 in 45 overs (Faiz Fazal 75, Wasim Jaffer 34). In Bengaluru: Karnataka 264/9 in 90 overs (M Pandey 62, S Gopal 87, S Sharath 74*, J Unadkat 4/50, K Makvana 3/73)