Karnataka needed 87 runs with 3 wickets at the start of the final day. Vidarbha got an early wicket of Vinay Kumar. Shreyas Gopal and Mithun played with positive intent adding 48 runs for the 9th wicket. Gurbani dismissed Mithun for 33, then dismissed S Arvind for 2 to give Vidarbha a thrilling 5 runs win. Rajesh Gurbani took all the 3 wickets today. Karnataka was bowled out for 192. It was an exciting encounter.
Vidarbha will play their maiden Ranji Trophy finals against Delhi starting from 29th December at Holkar Stadium, Indore.
2nd Semi-finals- Karnataka vs. Vidarbha ( Eden Garden’s, Kolkata)
Vidarbha reached their maiden Ranji Trophy finals with a thrilling 5 runs win over Karnataka on the final day. Rajesh Gurbani took an early wicket of Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar early. Shreyas Gopal and Mithun added 48 runs for the 9th wicket which put pressure on Vidarbha. Gurbani then struck dismissing Mithun for 33.
With 6 runs required, Gurbani dismissed S Arvind for 2 runs to give Vidarbha a thrilling 5 runs win. Shreyas Gopal remained not out on 24. Rajesh Gurbani took all three wickets today. He finished with 7 wickets in the second innings.
Vidarbha 185 in 61.4 overs ( Sarwate 47, Wasim Jaffer 39, Mithun 5/45) and 313 in 84.1 overs ( Ganesh Satish 81, Wankhade 49, Sarwate 55, S Arvind 2/56, Vinay Kumar 3/71, Stuart Binny 3/74) beat Karnataka 301 in 100.5 overs ( Karun Nair 153, CM Gautam 73, Umesh Yadav 4/73,Gurbani 5/90)and 192 in 59.1 overs ( Karun Nair 30, CM Gautam 24, Vinay Kumar 36, Mithun 33, Gopal 24* Gurbani 7/68)by 5 runs
Delhi will take on Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy 2017/18 season to be played at Holkar Stadium, Indore starting from 29th December. It was an exciting match which went right down to the wire. Vidarbha showed great fighting spirit and came back in tough situations.