Welcome to Sportstar's live blog of the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 final between Vidarbha and Saurashtra.
4.59 pm: It's stumps. 200 for 7. Sakariya's over is safely negotiated. It completes what must be a satisfying day for Saurashtra. Having taken seven wickets already, it holds the upper hand in the contest. Both spinners and fast bowlers chipped in; Faiz Fazal's run-out was a gift. But until Saurashtra has finished its first innings, the scenario cannot be ascertained.
Can Umesh Yadav and Co. precipitate a similar batting collapse on Day Two? Join us on Monday. Till then, it's goodbye.
4.56 pm: And before the last over of the day, Saurashtra decides to take the second new ball.
4.54 pm: Vidarbha reaches 200 as Karnewar gets an edge past the slip fielder for a couple off Makwana.
4.49 pm: Chetan Sakariya, the left-arm seamer, is into the attack, and the bowling change works once again. He starts his over with a wide, short-of-a-length delivery; Wadkar reaches out to the delivery and provides a tame catch to short cover. It was a loose shot, a soft dismissal. Wadkar is disappointed. He goes for 45. It's 196 for 7.
4.42 pm: Another boundary, this time by Wadkar. It arrives via a cut shot off a short delivery from Jadeja. After 86 overs, it's 195 for 6.
4.37 pm: A wayward delivery from Unadkat to finish the 85th over of the day. Karnewar plays a glance off his waist and the ball travels fine for a boundary.
4.29 pm: Off an overpitched delivery from Unadkat, Karnewar plays the off-drive. Sheldon Jackson, at mid-off, dives to his right to save what may have been a boundary. Unadkat, with a clap, appreciates Jackson's effort.
4.22 pm: Unadkat, the captain, comes on to bowl. He nearly induces an edge off Wadkar, the set batsman, who wafts at a delivery considerably wide outside off-stump. The ball swings, missing the edge. The bowler looks at the batsman, and the batsman gestures to him that the ball passed his bat.
4.16 pm: Wadkar pads up to Jadeja for much of the 80th over of the innings, the deliveries pitching outside leg-stump from over-the-wicket. It's 174 for 6.
4.06 pm: Makwana bowls a good-length delivery. Wadkar goes on the back-foot and cautiously tries to defend. The ball runs away off the outside edge and the batsmen run two. A finer edge could have been fatal for the batsman.
3.54 pm: With a punch off the back-foot for a four through cover, Karnewar moves to 19. The delivery by Jadeja was slightly short and Karnewar pounced on it.
3.45 pm: Out of the blue, Karnewar unleashes a slog sweep off Jadeja that sails over the deep-midwicket ropes.
3.43 pm: A quiet over from Mankad, his 18th of the innings. It's 153 for 6.
3.35 pm: Karnewar deflects a delivery from Mankad outside off-stump to collect a boundary. It was a controlled stroke, and travelled through the narrow gap between the second and third slip.
3.27 pm: Mankad is hit for a boundary straight down the ground by Wakhare; it was a smooth straight drive. After 67 overs, it's 144 for 6.
3.21 pm: And yet another dismissal. The new batsman, Aditya Sarwate, attempts to play a sweep off Jadeja, but is early on it. The ball touches his gloves and balloons up; it's caught by the slip fielder. 139 for 6 now.
3:19 pm: The next over bowled by Mankad is a maiden. It's 138 for 5.
3.10 pm: A bowling change, and it pays off immediately. Prerak Mankad with his seemingly innocuous bowling, dismisses the set Ganesh Satish for 31. Ganesh tries to leave alone a delivery in the corridor, but as the ball travels through to the wicketkeeper, it takes the edge. 134 for 5.
3:05 pm: Two singles taken from the first over after tea, bowled by off-spinner Kamlesh Makwana.
2:41 pm: A quiet over from Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, and its tea. Vidarbha 130 for 4 in 61 overs.
2:00pm
Makvana breaks the Kale-Satish partnership. Mohit Kale is dismissed for 35.
1:28pm Mohit Kale has accelerated his scoring since lunch. He's on 32 off 113 balls. Satish on the other end is giving him good support. He's on 15 from 32 balls. Vidarbha 100/3 .
12:01pm At Lunch, Vidarbha is 67/3 with Ganesh Satish and Mohit Kale at the crease.
11:50am Wasim Jaffer is OUT! Unadkat entices him with a delivery outside off. But it straightens a little more than Jaffer expects as he edges it to the wicketkeeper Snell Patel. Vidarbha 60/3.
11:27am
Wasim Jaffer and Mohit Kale have been patient as they rebuild after the openers' dismissals. Kale has scored seven off 48 balls. Jaffer has uncharacteristically looked the more aggressive. He's hit a boundary and a six in 19 off 52 balls. Vidarbha going steady at 52/2 after 26 overs.
10:25am RUN OUT! Faiz Fazal seems to have a brain fade during the second run. He probably wasn't expecting the throw at his end as he casually jogged down without watching the ball. Sakariya's throw is right next to the stumps the keeper is quick too and Fazal comes short. Vidarbha 29/2 after 10.1 overs.
10:05am OUT! Vidarbha loses its first wicket. Unadkat with the wicket as Sanjay Ramaswamy chases a ball angling away from him and gets an outside edge. Vasavada at first slip takes a simple catch. Wasim Jaffer comes in to bat. At the end of 9 overs, Vidarbha is 26/1.
10:01am A well-directed bouncer from Sakariya hits Sanjay on the helmet and goes over the 'keeper to the boundary. Sanjay barely knew anything about that. Vidarbha 20/0 after 6 overs.
9:50am
Chetan Sakariya and Unadkat are generating quite a bit of swing with the new ball. Sakariya had three close LBW appeals in his over before he got Sanjay to edge one towards gully. Fell just short of the fielder there. Vidarbha 10/0 after 4 overs.
9:37am Jaydev Unadkat opens the bowling for Saurashtra as Faiz Fazal and Sanjay Ramaswamy open for Vidarbha. A decent over is compromised as Faiz Fazal scores a boundary off the final ball. Vidarbha 6/0 after the first over.
Toss Update: Vidarbha has won the toss and elected to bat first.
Playing XI
As we near the end of another domestic season, Vidarbha will be looking to get its hands on a second consecutive Ranji title when it takes on Saurashtra in the final at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur.
While Vidarbha comes into this encounter on the back of two innings wins, Saurashtra chased down scores of 372 and 279 in the quarterfinal and semifinal respectively.
All eyes will be on veteran batsman Wasim Jaffer and the ever-reliable Cheteswar Pujara who, playing on opposite sides, have 33,841 first-class runs between them.
Read more in the match preview .
The match starts at 9:30am IST.
Here are some interestings stories in the build-up to the Ranji Trophy final:
- Wasim Jaffer will feature in his
10th Ranji final today.
- Vidarbha coach Chandrakant Pandit is a step ahead of Jaffer. He will be involved in his
11th Ranji final .
- The gaffes in the semifinal between Karnataka and Saurashtra had raised fingers on the quality of decision-making in domestic cricket. So the final will also be a
pressure game for umpires Anil Chaudhary and Shamshuddin.
Over the years, Ranji Trophy has delivered a number of world-class players and some season finales remain etched in memory. Here are five Ranji Trophy finals which were nothing short of epic .
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