3rd Mar, 2020
Bengal became the first team to make it to the final while Saurashtra edged ahead of Gujarat as the fourth day of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 semifinal came to an end.
Hereās how the action unfolded on Tuesday:
Mukesh Kumar ran through the Karnataka batting line-up, scalping six wickets, as Bengal sealed a 174-run win to march into the finals. He picked up five of the seven wickets which fell on the Day 4 as Bengal bowled out Karnataka for 177 to complete a win.
The right-arm medium pacer set the ball rolling for Bengal as he dismissed Manish Pandey, K V Siddharth and Srinivas Sharath within the first five overs of the day. Pandey edged one to the wicketkepper while Bengal skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran held on to an easy catch in the slips to dismiss Siddharth.
Sharath was trapped before the wickets on the very next delivery as Karnataka were reduced to 103/6. While K Gowtham got a reprieve because of the DRS, Kumar then picked up his fourth wicket of the day, getting the overnight batsman Devdutt Padikkal out for 62, to complete a five-wicket haul.
Ishan Porel, who had scalped five wickets in the first innings to help Bengal secure a 190-run lead, and Akash Deep picked a wicket each on the fourth day while Kumar added one more wicket to his account.
While Kumar, Porel and Deep shared the spoils with the ball, Anustup Majumdar was the star with the bat.
The right-hander scored an unbeaten 149 in the first innings and led Bengalās recovery, with Shahbaz Ahmed and Deep chipping in with 35 and 44 runs respectively, helping the side post 312 runs on the board after being reduced to 67/6.
In Rajkot, Arpit Vasavadaās hundred, Chirag Janiās fifty and Chetan Sakariyaās 45 guided Saurashtra to 274.
Vasavada and Sakariya, who had joined forces when Saurashtra were reduced to 15/5 following Chintan Gajaās fiery bowling display on Day 3, added 90 runs together before Gujarat managed to break the partnership, dismissing Sakariya.
However, Vasavada and Jani denied Gujarat any immediate success as the pair added 109 runs from 236 deliveries to push Gujarat past 210.
While Saurashtra lost Jani and Prerak Mankad in quick succession, Vasavada and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja added 41 runs before Saurashtraās innings came to an end with Vasavadaās dismissal.
For Gujarat, Gaja picked up seven wickets as Saurashtra set a 327-run target for the Parthiv Patel-led side. Needing 327 runs to win, Gujarat lost Priyank Panchal and ended the day at 7/1.
