Saurashtra Seal Semis Spot With Highest Chase in Ranji History

Cricketnext Staff | Updated: January 19, 2019, 7:17 PM IST

The semi-final lineup of the Ranji Trophy 2018/19 season was completed on Saturday as defending champions Vidarbha beat Uttarakhand by an innings and 115 runs and will now take on Kerala on January 24.

The other semi-final will see Karnataka take on Saurashtra, with the latter sealing their spot in the final four with a comfortable 6-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh by chasing down the highest score in the history of the tournament.

#RanjiTrophy: Saurashtra & Vidarbha Complete Semi-final Line-up.#CNRanjiWatch Read: https://t.co/6QaxsvQfUn pic.twitter.com/rFFF2T3WpF

— CricketNext (@cricketnext) January 19, 2019

Pujara comes through for Saurashtra

It was Cheteshwar Pujara - who was so key to India winning their first-ever Test series in Australia just earlier this month - and the experienced batsmen’s knock of 67* was also vital to Saurashtra’s victory on Saturday.

Coming out to bat after the departure of Kamlesh Makwana and when his team needed 144 to win, Pujara did what he does best: put a price on his wicket.

UP removed centurion Harvik Desai but Pujara then put on a 106-run partnership with Sheldon Jackson to ensure they were no more hiccups in pursuit of the target.

Pujara had been dismissed for a paltry 11 in the first innings but he more than made up for that with his showing in the second innings.

(Brief scores: Saurashtra 208 & 372/4 beat Uttar Pradesh 385 & 194 by 6 wickets)

Uttarakhand collapse hands Vidarbha victory

Uttarakhand had batted well in the first innings to put 355 on the board but they had their backs against the wall going into the second innings as Vidarbha had scored 629 in reply.

Uttarakhand ended Day 4 on 152/5, knowing they would need a big partnership to have any hopes of even overhauling the 274-run lead.

However, Umesh Yadav – who had taken 3 late wickets on Friday – and Aditya Sarwate ran through the lower order, meaning Uttarakhand could only add 7 runs to their overnight total as their Ranji Trophy campaign ended with a heavy defeat.

(Brief scores: Vidarbha 629 beat Uttarakhand 355 and 159 by an innings and 115 runs)