Ranji Trophy 2023: Arpit Vasavada guides Saurashtra into final after a 4-wicket win over Karnataka

Saurashtra skipper Arpit Vasavada scored a brilliant double-ton in the first innings and followed it with his vital unbeaten 47 to guide Saurashtra to the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 final with a four-wicket win over Karnataka in the semi-final at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Stand-in captain Vasavada absorbed all the pressure and scored an unbeaten 47 off 51 balls, hitting seven fours at a strike rate of 92.51, as Saurashtra chased down the target of 115 in the 35th over with six wickets in hand.

With this, Saurashtra has entered the finals of the Ranji Trophy for the third time in the last four seasons.

In the second innings on Day 5, Karnataka off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham ran through Saurashtra’s batting order by removing Sheldon Jackson, Vishvaraj Jadeja and Chirag Jani, as Saurashtra were struggling at 42 for 5.

With tremendous pressure, Saurashtra played a masterstroke by sending left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya at No.6, who scored a crucial 24 off 48 balls and added a match-winning partnership of 63 runs for the seventh wicket with Vasavada.

Vasavada and Sakariya showed good intent to score and struck brilliant strokes on a difficult pitch on the final day. While facing Gowtham, Sakariya survived a very close LBW shout which was eventually turned down.

However, Sakariya was soon dismissed by Vasuki Koushik with Saurashtra needing just 10 runs to win. Despite breaking the critical partnership, it was too late for Karnataka as Prerak Mankad scored the winning runs with a four in the 35th over to seal the victory.

In the second innings for Karnataka, Gowtham took 3/38 in his 15 overs while Koushik picked 3/32 from his 10.2 overs.

Earlier in the second innings, Nikin Jose scored his maiden first-class hundred with a superb 109 off 161 balls, including nine fours to keep Karnataka in the race for the finals after conceding a 120-run lead in the first innings.

The 22-year-old added crucial partnerships of 35 and 60 with Gowtham and Vijaykumar Vyshak respectively. For Saurashtra, Sakariya (4/45) and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (4/79) took four wickets each.

Brief scores: Karnataka 407/10 (Mayank Agarwal 249; Chetan Sakariya 3/73) and 234 (Nikin Jose 109, Mayank Agarwal 55; Chetan Sakariya 4/45) lost to Saurashtra 527/10 (Arpit Vasavada 202, Sheldon Jackson 160; Vidwath Kaverappa 5/82) and 117/6 (Arpit Vasavada 47 not out; V Koushik 3/32, K Gowtham 3/38) by four wickets.