Ranji Trophy 2019 | Unbeaten Cheteshwar Pujara ton takes Suarashtra to final
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Cheteshwar Pujara’s brilliant knock of 131* was enough to take Saurasthra to the final and in the process gave his team a shot at their maiden domestic title. Karnataka would feel hard done by following the umpiring decisions as they went down in their second consecutive semi-final match.
Brief Scores: Saurashtra 235 & 279/5 (Cheteshwar Pujara 131*, Sheldon Jackson 100; Vinay Kumar 3/75, Abhimanyu Mithun 1/46) beat Karnataka 275 & 239 (Shreyas Gopal 61, Mayank Agarwal 46; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 5-48, Jaydev Unadkat 3-35) by five wickets.
The victory was more or less sealed yesterday itself when Pujara (108*) and Sheldon Jackson (90*) had taken Saurashtra to within 54 runs of their victory with as many as seven wickets still left. And while Vinay Kumar managed to pluck Jackson after he reached his century, Pujara and Prerak Mankad survived till the end to take their team home.
Hitting a century, Jackson forged a brilliant 214-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Pujara, but Saurashtra still had 42 runs to score when he was dismissed. However, a poised Pujara ensured that his side managed to climb a significant target for the second consecutive time.
In the quarter-finals against Uttar Pradesh, the same players were needed to stay at the crease and they had forged an all-important 136-run partnership that helped Saurashtra chase down a target of 372 runs, which was a Ranji record target.
However, despite Pujara and Jackson’s heroics, who came in when Saurashtra were 23/3 to take the team to victory, the major talking point from the game would be Pujara’s denied dismissals. In both the innings, the India star was caught behind with stump mic throwing up a loud knick, and the on-field umpire failed to spot it on both occasions.
Pujara’s unwillingness to walk would be a huge debate following today’s victory but the Saurashtra star would be focusing solely on their all-important final against Vidarbha.
