Vinay Kumar's 6/20 blows Mumbai away for 44 in Ranji Trophy semi-finals

Vinay Kumar produced a devasting spell of seam bowling

40-time Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai were left embarrassed on day one of the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday as they were bundled out for a measly 44. Theoretically, though, Mumbai weren’t bowled out as Abhishek Nayar didn’t come out to bat at all due to injury.

R Vinay Kumar was the chief destroyer with the ball for the defending champions, picking up figures of 6 for 20 in 8 overs to slice through the Mumbai top-order. The 31-year-old seam bowler removed 3 of the 5 top-order batsmen to leave Mumbai’s innings in complete disarray. He also reached the landmark of 350 first-class wickets during his devastating spell.

Left-arm seamer Sreenath Arvind took 2 wickets for 1 run in 1.1 overs while Abhimanyu Mithun took the solitary wicket of Shreyas Iyer, who top-scored for the visitors with 15. Apart from him, only Surya Kumar Yadav (12) reached double figures as the bowlers made full use of the help on offer on the pitch.

This is now Mumbai’s second-lowest total in their Ranji Trophy history, their lowest being 42, which came against Gujarat in the 1977/78 season .

Earlier in the day, Karnataka were bowled out for 202 after winning the toss, thanks to Shardul Thakur’s spell of 4 for 61 in 18 overs. He was well supported by Wilkin Mota, who bowled a miserly spell of 2 for 18 in 14.2 overs while Balwinder Sandhu and Abhishek Nayar picked up a wicket apiece.

Robin Uthappa produced yet another good performance on a difficult surface, scoring 68 off 100 balls while Karun Nair scored a gritty 49 to help their side post a below-par yet competent score on that pitch.

Despite being bowled out for such a low total, Mumbai showed that they still had some fight left within them, when they removed the Karnataka opening pair of Uthappa and KL Rahul cheaply to round off a thrilling day of cricket.

Brief Scores (Day 1, Stumps):

Karnataka 1st innings: 202 (R Uthappa 68; S Thakur 4-61)

Mumbai 1st innings: 44 all out (S Iyer 15; R Vinay Kumar 6-20)

Karnataka 2nd innings: 10 for 2 (A Mithun 4*; S Thakur 1-2)

Mumbai's 44/9 (Nayar absent) is their lowest score against K'taka and second lowest overall, after 42 v Gujarat in 1977/78. #RanjiTrophy

— Disha Shetty (@disha_shetty) February 25, 2015

Mumbai dabba gul! #ranjisemis

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) February 25, 2015

And, in the Ranji Trophy, Mumbai gets all out for 44, and dedicates each run of theirs to a Congress MP.

— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) February 25, 2015