Vidarbha will take on Odisha at the VCA Cricket Stadium in Nagpur from Saturday.
Akshay Karnewar struck his maiden first-class century to hand Vidarbha a crucial 95-run first-innings lead before Rest of India, riding on a fighting partnership, erased the deficit in the Irani Cup.
The Akshay Wadkar-led side are coming off a massive 221-run victory over Rajasthan in their previous contest.
Vidarbha, who have remained unbeaten in the premier domestic competition this season, qualified for the summit clash after a commanding 80-run win over defending champions Mumbai.
With spinners extracting significant turn and bounce exploiting the roughs, Sarwate (3/55) and off-spinner Akshay Wakhare (2/42) blew away Saurashtra's top half to seize the momentum.
Ignored Karun Nair hits 2nd ton to take Karnataka to 319/3 against Kerala in the Ranji Trophy.
Former winners Vidarbha will rely on their red-hot form to stake claim for a title they last won over five years ago, while first-time finalists Kerala will be driven by grit when the two contrasting teams clash in the summit showdown for the 90th Ranji Trophy, starting in Nagpur on Wednesday.
Aditya Sarwate's unbeaten 66 anchored Kerala's strong reply as the visitors reached 131/3 at stumps on Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy final, after restricting hosts Vidarbha to 379.
After restricting Rest to a modest 330 on the opening day, Vidarbha ended the second day at 245 for 6 with Wadkar and Akshay Karnewar (15 not out) holding fort. The hosts still trail by 85 runs.
Asked to bat at the Arun Jaitley stadium, Karnataka rode on Rohan Kadam's blistering 87 off 56 balls to post a competitive 176 for seven and then restricted the opposition to 172 for six with right-arm pacer Vidyadhar Patil (1/29) holding his nerve in the final over.
Discarded opener Shikhar Dhawan roared back to form with a sublime 128 as India B beat India A by 23 runs in the opening match of the Deodhar Trophy cricket tournament, in Visakhapatnam, on Saturday.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday
The national selection committee on Thursday picked up a fourth string 14-member Board President's XI squad for the warm-up game against Australia, making it clear that Yuvraj Singh is now not a part of even the top 74 cricketers in the country.
A summary of the Vijay Hazare Trophy matches played on Saturday.
Vihari, who had scored a hundred in the last Irani Cup, once again held the innings together, scoring 114 off 211 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. It was in complete contrast to Agarwal's innings which was laced with 10 fours and three sixes.
Mumbai sealed a five-wicket win over Vidarbha in the second semi-final clash at Eden Gardens
It proved to be a good toss to lose for Saurashtra, who succeeded in removing the most impactful Vidarbha batsmen -- Jaffer (23) and captain Faiz Fazal (16) -- cheaply.
Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal announced that the entire prize money will be donated to the families of the CRPF personnel martyred in the dastardly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday.
Saurashtra were best chasers during the knockout stage but their reliable batsmen came a cropper in the most-important clash.
Saurashtra batsmen survived nasty body blows from Umesh Yadav during their gallant fight against Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy final, which is now on even keel after third day.
A round-up of Vijay Hazare Trophy matches played across the country on Saturday.
A formidable Karnataka continued their winning streak in the Super League stages of the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy after they trounced Delhi by 8 wickets in Group B match, in Indore, on Sunday.
Australia warmed up for the limited-overs series against India in style by crushing Board President's (BP) XI by 103 runs in the lone practice match, in Chennai, on Tuesday.
Mumbai defeated Uttar Pradesh by 46 runs in their last Super League Group B game, but that was not enough for them to find a place in the finals.
Markande (5 for 31) spun a web around the visitors to bowl them out for 180 in the second innings on the third day of the four-day match.
Bangalore have been on a roll with skipper Virat Kohli enjoying one of the best phases of his career as he has four centuries under his belt.
Kolkata Knight Riders will be looking to earn two valuable points and move up to second spot in the points-table when they take on struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The Australians, led by Steve Smith, arrived in Chennai from Bangladesh after drawing a two-Test series and the match tomorrow would give them opportunity to at least switch to the One-day format.
In a thrilling match in Surat, Gujarat defeated Rajasthan "by one over eliminator" after the two teams ended with identical scores in 20 overs and the match was tied.
Their winning momentum punctured after a loss to Rising Pune Supergiants, Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to get back to their winning ways when they take on a struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore in an Indian Premier League Twenty20 match, in Hyderabad, on Saturday.
Gujarat Lions would be looking to get back to winning ways when they lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will be looking to take the confidence from their Monday night's nerve-wracking one-run victory when they clash with Mumbai Indians.
Delhi lost their second game in a row after their star studded batting line-up, including the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir, failed to fire against Himachal Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to outgun title-contenders, Gujarat Lions in a must-win Indian Premier League clash.
Dhoni has to ponder over both the batting and bowling departments of his team.
A roundup of Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy matches on Friday.
Enjoying one of the best phases in his career so far, Royal Challengers Bangalore's inspirational leader Virat Kohli is ready to play through pain against Kings XI Punjab with multiple stitches in his split webbing in another must-win IPL encounter in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Kohli sustained split webbing in his left hand while fielding against Kolkata Knight Riders as he went for a diving catch. He left the field briefly to get medical assistance, got his webbing taped and was back in field. He then played another classy knock to keep RCB's play-off qualification hopes alive. "I might need 7-8 stitches," Kohli had said after the match but if KXIP thought that the opposition skipper will make himself unavailable, they would be in for disappointment as RCB's manager Avinash Vaidya said that India's No 1 batsman will be playing in this crucial encounter.
Misfiring Mumbai Indians, struggling to get their team combination right, will take on the formidable batting might of Royal Challengers Bangalore in a potentially explosive Indian Premier League clash at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai. On Wednesday.
It will be a battle of survival for the two national captains as Virat Kohli's struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore square off against a fledgling Pune Supergiants led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in an IPL encounter for the bottom-rung teams in Bengaluru on Saturday. With five defeats in seven games, RCB are currently placed at a lowly seventh spot in the table with four points while Pune are just a notch above in sixth spot courtesy their third win against Delhi Daredevils, on Thursday. It has been a tough journey for the two superstars of Indian cricket as their franchises have dished one disappointing performance after another. RCB with perhaps the most intimidating batting line-ups has had to taste defeat because of a pedestrian bowling attack that has failed to defend 180 plus scores in most of the matches.
Tamil Nadu produced an all-round display to beat Mumbai by 26 runs and register their second consecutive win in the Vijay Hazare One-Day cricket tournament, on Friday.
