Wasim Jaffer, Jalaj Saxena, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja chase milestones

As Saurashtra and Karnataka and Vidarbha and Kerala get ready for their Ranji Trophy 2018-19 semi-final engagements, here are some interesting numbers to chew on.

31 - Runs Wasim Jaffer needs to score to become the first to reach the 1000-run mark in a season more than once. Playing for Mumbai in 2008-09, he had scored 1260 runs from 16 innings at 84.00. This time, he has 969 runs from 12 innings at an average of 80.75.

1 - Among the four semi-finalists, Jaffer is the only one to score a double-century this season.

4 - There have been only five 500-plus team totals this season, and Vidarbha have registered four of them.

6 - Number of wickets Aditya Sarwate needs to break Akshay Wakhare's record of most wickets for Vidarbha (49 in 2015-16) in a season. The left-arm spinner has 44 wickets from nine games at an average of 21.02 so far.

0 - The number of Kerala batsmen with a batting average of 50 or more this season. Akshay Chandran has the highest average with 45.00 (135 runs from seven innings).

23.50 - Difference between Jalaj Saxena's batting and bowling averages. In eight matches, he has scored 537 runs at 44.75 and taken 28 wickets at 21.25.

0 - Kerala's Ranji final appearances; among the four semi-finalists, Kerala are the only ones to have never reached the title round.

1 - Karnataka batsmen with a higher batting average than Vinay Kumar this season. Vinay has scored 312 runs from nine innings at 62.40. Only Manish Pandey - 351 runs at 70.20 - has done better.

5 - Karnataka bowlers with 20 or more wickets this season - Shreyas Gopal (31 wickets at an average of 21.83), Ronit More (30 at 19.20), J Suchith (24 at 19.45), Abhimanyu Mithun (22 at 21.63) and K Gowtham (20 at 20.20). None of the other semi-finalists have more than three in that list.

1786 - Balls faced by Dega Nishchal - the most by anyone among the four semi-finalists. In 18 innings, Nishchal has scored 620 runs at 36.47 with three centuries and as many fifties.

6 - Saurashtra batsmen with centuries this season - the joint-most with Kerala among the semi-finalists. However, Saurashtra are the only team with no batsman who has scored more than one century.

5 - Number of wickets Dharmendrasinh Jadeja needs to become the first Saurashtra bowler to take 50 wickets in a single season. So far, Jadeja has taken 45 wickets from nine matches at 28.15.

16 - Catches taken by Harvik Desai so far - the joint-most for Saurashtra in a single season. Sheldon Jackson had the same number in 2015-16. The overall record belongs to Jaffer, who had taken 23 catches for Mumbai in 2003-04.