On Saturday, Saurashtra created history by successfully chasing the highest fourth-innings target in the Ranji Trophy history as they have reached the semi-final of the 2018/19 Ranji Trophy. While the Saurashtra openers provided the great start at chasing, including the youngster Hardik Desai’s maiden first-class century, Cheteshwar Pujara safely guided the team for an incredible victory along with Sheldon Jackson.
Chasing down the 372 runs target in the fourth innings, Saurashtra started the day five of the quarter-final against Uttar Pradesh at Lucknow on 195/2 while the opener Harvik Desai (83*) and Kamlesh Makvana (4*) were batting.
Earlier on the day four, the openers Harvik Desai and Snell Patel provided the 132-run partnership before the wicketkeeper Patel lost his wicket on 72 runs off 114 balls (9 fours).
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Coming to the historic day five, Makvana only added two more runs on his account before losing his wicket on 7 runs. Meanwhile, the 19-year-old Desai hit his maiden first-class century as he scored 116 off 259 balls (16 fours).
Battling on 236/4, Indian top Test specialist batsman Cheteshwar Pujara provided a magnificent unbroken 136-run partnership with Sheldon Jackson for the fifth wicket to safely guide the side for the victory. Pujara remained unbeaten on 67 off 110 balls while Jackson was not out on 73 off 109 balls (11 fours and only six).
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Saurashtra broke the previous highest successful target chase record in the fourth-innings of Ranji Trophy history, which was the 371 by Assam against Services, and successfully chased the 372 runs target after losing four wickets as they won by six wickets.
Highest successful target chase in the fourth-innings of Ranji Trophy history:
Coming to the game, UP decided to bat first after winning the toss and managed to score 385 runs, thanks to Rinku Singh’s 150 runs while the Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat had a bowling figure of 22.3-4-86-5.
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In reply, Saurashtra was bundled out for just 208 runs in their first innings. Apart from the opener Harvik Desai (84) and the no.7 batsman Prerak Mankad (67), none of the other batsmen reached the 20-run marks.
In their second innings, UP was bowled out for 194 runs and set the target of 372 runs which Saurashtra just achieved and created a new Ranji Trophy record.
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The 2018/19 Ranji Trophy semi-final will begin on 24 January where Saurashtra will meet against Karnataka and on the other hand, the defending champions Vidarbha will meet against Saurashtra.
