Ranji Trophy: Karnataka 36/3 after skittling out Vidarbha for 185

Kolkata, Dec 17 (CRICKETNMORE) - Pacer Abhimanyu Mithun bagged his third five-wicket haul of the Ranji Trophy campaign as Vidarbha collapsed for a paltry 185 before Karnataka were reduced to 36/3 at the end of the first day's play in

Gurbani accounted for the wickets of R. Samarth (6), and Nishal D (0) with beautiful deliveries while Umesh got Mayank Agarwal (15 off 19; 3x4) leg before wicket bowling a probing line.

Umesh -- drafted into the team at the last moment after the Indian team management decided to let him play -- did not look like he was bowling in full tilt keeping the upcoming South Africa tour in mind.

Vidarbha inexplicably chose to bat first after winning the toss despite having Umesh in their ranks.

Karnataka boast of a strong bowling line up too having the likes of skipper R. Vinay Kumar, Mithun, Sreenath Aravind, Shreyas Gopal and Krishnappa Gowtham.

The sight of skipper Faiz Fazal and Sanjay Ramaswamy coming out to open the batting was hard to fathom and their gamble did not bear fruit as Mithun ripped through their middle order bowling some wonderful lengths and always keeping the batsmen on tenterhooks.