Karan's 93* puts Uttar Pradesh in semi-finals after Saurabh's bowling heroics

Uttar Pradesh 155 (Garg 39, Rinku 33, More 3-47) and 213 for 5 (Karan 93*, Garg 52, Vyshak 3-47) beat Karnataka 253 (Samarth 57, Gopal 56*, Saurabh 4-73, Mavi 3-60) and 114 (Sharath 23*, Saurabh 3-36, Rajpoot 2-15) by five wickets

Uttar Pradesh created history by beating Karnataka for the first time in the Ranji Trophy, as captain Karan Sharma led from the front with an unbeaten 93 in their successful chase of 213. Karan’s undefeated stand of 99 for the sixth wicket with Prince Yadav, who scored an unbeaten 33, ensured UP got over the early hiccups in their chase.

Having come to the crease after medium-pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak had dismissed both openers to reduce UP to 28 for 2, Karan and Priyam Garg added 59 for the third wicket. Garg contributed an entertaining 52 off 60 balls, including six fours and two sixes. Garg, Rinku Singh and Dhruv Jurel then all fell in the space of 13 overs to leave UP 114 for 5, with K Gowtham and Vidwath Kaverappa also getting among the wickets.

But Karnataka would not make any more breakthroughs thereafter, as Karan and Prince stood firm, ensuring UP completed a memorable win against the tournament favourites. Karan’s innings spanned 163 balls, and contained 13 fours and a six.

The match had looked like heading for an intriguing finish after Karnataka grabbed a 98-run first-innings lead on the second day, bowling UP out for 155 in response to their score of 253, but the home side then folded for 114 in their second innings.

Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar set the tone for UP’s win by claiming 4 for 73 in Karnataka’s first innings, including the wickets of top-scorer R Samarth, and then captain Manish Pandey and S Sharath off back-to-back balls.

Karnataka fought back through a combined effort from their bowling unit, with seamer Ronit More grabbing 3 for 47. However, UP’s last-wicket pair of Shivam Mavi and Ankit Rajpoot frustrated the opposition bowlers by adding 44, the highest stand in their innings.

The game continued to chug along at rapid pace, as Karnataka crumbled in their second innings, losing eight wickets for 47 runs after being 67 for 2 at one stage. Once again, Saurabh led the way with three wickets. None of Karnataka’s experienced trio of Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair and Pandey managed to pass 30 in either innings.

This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.

Karan’s 93* puts Uttar Pradesh in semi-finals after Saurabh’s bowling heroics

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