Kerala Clinch Historic Berth in Ranji Trophy Final; Vidarbha Beat Mumbai

Showing tremendous grit and determination, for their second straight knockout, Kerala pulled off a miraculous victory to seal a historic maiden Ranji Trophy final berth.

- HT Correspondent

MUMBAI:

After pipping Jammu & Kashmir in the quarter-final on the back of a one-run first-innings lead, Kerala again had their backs to the wall in their semi-final against Gujarat in the fight for the all-important first innings lead.

Needing to pick three wickets while having just 28 runs to defend at the start of the final day's play at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium, Kerala were under pressure. Their bowlers and fielders, however, rose to the occasion to clinch a vital two-run first-innings lead.

Kerala had batted well to amass 457 in the first innings but Gujarat responded to the challenge by getting to 429/7 at the end of Day 4 with Jaymeet Patel well set on 74 and Siddharth Desai batting on 24.

However, Kerala's left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate proved to be the hero by picking all remaining wickets to fall as Kerala bowled Gujarat out for 455.

Kerala will play Vidarbha in the final after the latter beat Mumbai by 80 runs in Nagpur.