Ranji Trophy: Saurashtra complete formalities to enter final

BENGALURU: Going into the final day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal clash here, Saurashtra needed 55 runs to book their place in the final. At the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Monday, they wrapped up a five-wicket win over hosts Karnataka without much ado.
Although Karnataka bowlers did try to break Saurashtra batsmen’s resolve, it was too late with too little to defend as Cheteshwar Pujara (131*, 266b, 17x4) and Sheldon Jackson (100, 217b, 15x4) built a winning foundation of 214 runs for the fourth wicket.
The win wasn’t without blemishes. Jackson lost his middle stump to an R Vinay Kumar delivery, a ball after he brought up his century. And with five runs to get, a short ball from Ronit More saw Arpit Vasavada hand KV Siddharth a catch at short leg. But that did nothing to check Saurashtra’s victory march.
Entering their third final in seven years, the Jaydev Unadkat-led side will take on defending champions Vidarbha for their maiden Ranji Trophy title next week.
Brief Scores
Karnataka 275 (Shreyas Gopal 87, Srinivas Sharath 83; Jaydev Unadkat 4/56) & 239 (Shreyas Gopal 61, Mayank Agarwal 46; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 5/48, Jaydev Unadkat 3/35) lost to Saurashtra 236 (Snell Patel 85; Ronit More 6/60) & 279/5 (Cheteshwar Pujara 131 not out, Sheldon Jackson 100; Vinay Kumar 3/75) by 5 wickets.