With Karnataka less than ten runs away from victory, Gurbani struck twice in the space of ten balls to give Vidarbha the five-run win in an exhilarating finish to the semi-final in Kolkata
Commentator: Sreshth Shah
10.50 am That's all from the second semi-final between Karnataka and Vidarbha. Don't forget to catch up on our match report, and post-match reactions to this historic game as the day progresses only on ESPNcricinfo. For now, though, it's Sreshth Shah, signing off. See you all at the final between Vidarbha and Delhi on the 29th of December from Indore. Bye bye!
Sooryanarayanan: "Rajneesh Gurbani. IPL team owners, remember the name.
Pankaj Morajkar: "Great match. Great commentary. I am from Mumbai, who are not going to be in the finals this year. But will vouch for Vidarbha as you always want an underdog to win. Congrats Vidarbha."
CHAITANYA HALGE: "spare a moment for Karun's epic hundred. That was the innings that kept Karnataka in the hunt and made the match stretch to four exciting innings. Gurbani MOM indeed, but Karun's efforts are special as well!"
10.45 am There we have it! After 13 epic sessions at the Eden Gardens, we finally have our second finalist. It was a Rajneesh Gurbani special that's taken Vidarbha to their maiden Ranji final, where they will face Delhi for the title of the country's best first-class team. Karnataka lost an early wicket today, but after that, the ninth-wicket partnership between Gopal and Mithun looked like they'd steal the win away from Vidarbha. But it was not to be, as Gurbani's two wickets (in the space of ten balls) snatched victory for the underdogs. What a wonderful encounter we witnessed today.
Nitesh Budhlani: "Being from Nagpur and see Vidharbha reaching the Finals is a great moment . Saw Faiz Fazal as our Junior College Team player .Never thought ,he would lead the vidharbha team to the Ranji Finals...Proud Moment!!"
Sumanth: "Oh God!! Why would you want to expose your No 11. for 6 full balls? Why Shreyas why?..... All it needed was for him to keep strike and finish the job!!. This is very disappointing from the young man....."
10.36 am Celebrations for the Vidarbha boys at the Eden Gardens. The teams shake their hands as captain Faiz Fazal leads Vidarbha out of the ground. What a topsy-turvy game this has been. Perfect advertisement for first-class cricket in India. Gurbani shows off his match-ball to the sparse crowd at the ground. Disappointed faces all around in the Karnataka camp. Gurbani is also, unsurprisingly, the Man of the Match for his game-haul of 12 wickets.
BHUSHAN: "Oh!! not again!!! Repeat of 2009/10 final where Karnataka lost by 7 runs.Nonetheless,good fight from Karnataka."
Pulkit Bhardwaj: "This is why we love cricket. Irrespective of who you support, this game had everything!"
S Aravind c Wankhade b Gurbani 2 (7m 6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33
Balaji: "Umpires standing there would be the one most tensed with this nail biting finish"
MJ: "@Venkat: Me too praying for a Vidarbha win.. BTW, it is a region in East of Maharashtra..!!"
Vidarbha seamer Rajneesh Gurbani, playing the biggest match of his life, could not wait to get back on the field to help his side make history
The Karnataka captain was critical in his assessment of the team's performance after the semi-final loss to Vidarbha
Coach Chandrakant Pandit has taken Vidarbha to the final of the Ranji Trophy for the very first time, in his first season in charge
With Karnataka less than ten runs away from victory, Gurbani struck twice in the space of ten balls to give Vidarbha the five-run win in an exhilarating finish to the semi-final in Kolkata
With unshakeable confidence, supreme skill and tremendous discipline, Vidarbha's pacers ran through Karnataka's batting order to all but knock out the eight-time champions on the fourth day at Eden Gardens
| Group A | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | M | W | L | D | PT | NRR |
| KNTKA | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 32 | 0.479 |
| DELHI | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 27 | 0.333 |
| MAHA | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 0.084 |
| HYD | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 16 | -0.156 |
| RLYS | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 14 | -0.312 |
| UP | 6 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0.508 |
| ASSAM | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | -0.977 |
| Group B | ||||||
| Team | M | W | L | D | PT | NRR |
| GUJ | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 0.097 |
| KER | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 0.636 |
| SAU | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 26 | 0.245 |
| J + K | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 9 | -0.077 |
| HRYNA | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 9 | -0.506 |
| JHK | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | -0.049 |
| RAJ | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -0.294 |
| Group C | ||||||
| Team | M | W | L | D | PT | NRR |
| MP | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 21 | -0.116 |
| MUM | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 0.228 |
| AP | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 0.326 |
| BRODA | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 0.508 |
| TN | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 11 | -0.112 |
| ODSA | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -0.648 |
| TPURA | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | -0.426 |
| Group D | ||||||
| Team | M | W | L | D | PT | NRR |
| VIDAR | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 31 | 0.358 |
| BENG | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 23 | 0.367 |
| PNJB | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 0.609 |
| HP | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 0.3 |
| CGR | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 13 | -0.514 |
| SVCS | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 | -0.273 |
| GOA | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -0.7 |
