Vidarbha vs Kerala Ranji Trophy Last Day 1 Highlights: Vidarbha completed Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy Last towards Kerala at 254 runs for the lack of 4 wickets on Wednesday.
Vidarbha recovered from the early jolts of the morning session due to an enormous century stand between Danish Malewar and Karun Nair for the fourth wicket.
Parth Rekhade, Dhruv Shorey and Darshan Nalkhande have been dismissed early as M.D Nideesh, Eden Apple Tom struck for the Kerala unit.
However, Malewar and Nair steadied the innings as the previous notched up an unbeatean century to shut out the day, whereas the latter added 86 runs earlier than being caught wanting the wicket by Mohammad Azharuddeen.
Two-time champions Vidarbha tackle first-time finalists Kerala within the title conflict of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 in Nagpur.
Kerala has had a formidable season, reaching the semifinals for the second time of their historical past, beforehand attaining this milestone within the 2018-19 season. Nonetheless, they’ve by no means superior past this stage since then. However, below the steering of head coach Amay Khurasiya, the staff broke this long-standing barrier and made historical past by reaching their first-ever Ranji Trophy closing after taking a slim two-run first-innings lead towards Gujarat.
En path to the ultimate, Kerala drew all 4 of their group-stage matches, dealing with Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Bengal, and Karnataka and superior to the knockout stage.
The Sachin Bay-led staff then drew their quarterfinal match towards Jammu and Kashmir, progressing to their second-ever semifinal with a first-innings lead. They secured their maiden closing berth with a dramatic win within the semifinal.
Kerala’s run to the ultimate has been dotted with key performances from their 38-year-old veteran Jalaj Saxena and Salman Nizar. Saxena accomplished the uncommon Ranji double of 6000 runs and 400 wickets earlier within the season, whereas Nizar has been their highest run-getter with 607 runs at a median of 86.71. Quick bowler MD Nidheesh has grow to be a formidable drive and even took a match haul of ten wickets within the quarterfinal.
Alternatively, this will likely be Vidarbha’s fourth Ranji Trophy closing and the second on the trot. The Akshay Wadkar-led facet, who’ve remained unbeaten this 12 months, wish to make amends from final 12 months’s closing, the place they misplaced towards Mumbai. Curiously, they secured a commanding 80-run victory over 42-time champions Mumbai to succeed in the ultimate.
Vidarbha have received 5 of their seven group stage matches with two ending up in a draw. Within the quarterfinal, they defeated Tamil Nadu by an innings and 88 runs, adopted by their win over Mumbai within the semis.
Full Squads
Vidarbha: Akshay Wadkar (captain and wicketkeeper), Atharva Taide, Dhruv Shorey, Parth Rekhade, Danish Malewar, Karun Nair, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Nachiket Bhute, Darshan Nalkande, Yash Thakur, Akshay Wakhare, Akshay Karnewar, Siddhesh Wath, Aditya Thakare, Shubham Kapse, Aman Mokhade, Mandar Mahale, Yash Kadam, Praful Hinge, Umesh Yadav
Kerala: Sachin Child (captain), Akshay Chandran, Rohan Kunnummal, Varun Nayanar, Jalaj Saxena, Mohammed Azharuddeen (wicketkeeper), Salman Nizar, Ahammed Imran, Aditya Sarwate, MD Nidheesh, Nedumankuzhy Basil, Basil Thampi, Vishnu Vinod, Baba Aparajith, Fazil Fanoos, Vathsal Govind, Shoun Roger, Vaisakh Chandran, Krishna Prasad, Anand Krishnan, KM Asif