Lucknow, February 19 Karnataka entered the Ranji Trophy final after a 11-year hiatus, achieving this due to a lead in their semi-final match against Uttarakhand, which ended in a draw, held here on Thursday.
Karnataka will face Jammu and Kashmir in the final match at Hubballi, starting on February 24.
Resuming from their overnight score of 299 for six, Karnataka quickly lost the remaining four wickets, eventually being all out for 323, giving them an overall lead of 826 runs.
Uttarakhand, despite fifties from Avneesh Sudha (66), Sachin Rawat (53 not out), and Abhay Negi (57 not out), managed to prevent Karnataka from achieving a complete victory.
They finished their second innings at 260 for six.
However, this substantial lead was enough to secure their place in the final.
Karnataka were aiming for a complete victory after reducing Uttarakhand to 156 for six in the second session of the second day.
But Negi and Rawat held on, adding 104 runs for the seventh wicket before both captains decided to shake hands about 30 minutes after tea.
Now, Karnataka will be looking to win their ninth Ranji Trophy title, the last of which was achieved in the 2014-15 season under the leadership of R Vinay Kumar.
In fact, Karnataka had achieved the rare distinction of becoming the second domestic team, after Mumbai, to win all three titles twice in as many seasons.
Following their success in the 2013-14 season, Karnataka also won the Ranji, Irani, and Vijay Hazare trophies in the 2014-15 season.
Robin Uthappa led the run-scoring with 912 runs, while Vinay and Shardul Thakur of Mumbai were the leading wicket-takers with 48 wickets each.
KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, and Shreyas Gopal are the only four remaining players from that dominant period in the current Karnataka squad.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir will be aiming for their first Ranji Trophy title, having reached the final for the first time in six decades.
