The fate of the Ranji Trophy 2024/25 semifinal between Gujarat and Kerala, being played in Ahmedabad, hung in the balance at the close of play on Thursday.
Winning the toss and batting first, Kerala took more than two days to post a massive first-innings total of 457. At stumps on day four, Gujarat was at 429/7, trailing the visitor by 28 runs going into the final day’s play.
Though the match appears to be heading for a draw, Gujarat’s first-innings score will determine the result.
According to the playing conditions of the First-Class competition, if a knockout match ends in a draw, the team with the first-innings lead will advance to the next round. Hence, Gujarat effectively needs to score 29 more runs on Friday to secure a place in the final.
If both teams finish with the same first-innings total and a result cannot be determined, the following criteria will be used to decide the winner:
- a) The team with greater number of points at league stage.
- b) If points are equal then team with greater number of bonus points at league stage.
- c) If points and bonus points are equal then team with greater number of outright wins at league stage.
- d) If points, bonus points and number of outright wins are equal then team who has won the match outright against each other if they have already played against each other in the league stage.
- e) If points, bonus points, number of outright wins are equal and clause (d) is not applicable then team with higher run quotient calculated up to previous game including league phase.
- f) In case of winner cannot be determined after applying above clauses then winner will be decided by spin of coin, in presence of Match Referee or the Umpires if Match Referee is not present.