Big picture: Kerala’s time under the sun
It’s the biggest moment in the careers of many who come from a part of the country where there’s a culture of hero worship, but also where there have been only a few cricket heroes – like S Sreesanth and, more recently, Sanju Samson. But dig a little deeper and you find others with an impeccable body of work.
Vidarbha are favourites, but Kerala have played like a team without baggage and will fight until the end, like they have time and again this season.
Form guide: Vidarbha on a roll
Vidarbha WWWWD (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Kerala DDWDD
Run to the final: Two contrasting journeys
In the spotlight: Aditya Sarwate and Karun Nair
Team news: Thakare and Nizar fit
Seamer Aditya Thakare, who picked up a five-for in the quarter-final against Tamil Nadu, missed the semi-final owing to a hamstring niggle. Thakare is fit and available for the final. That could mean Vidarbha leave out one of Darshan Nalkande and Nachiket Bhute.
Vidarbha (likely XI): 1 Atharva Taide, 2 Dhruv Shorey, 3 Danish Malewar, 4 Karun Nair, 5 Yash Rathod, 6 Akshay Wadkar (capt, wk), 7 Harsh Dubey, 8 Parth Rekhade, 9 Nachiket Bhute/Darshan Nalkande, 10 Yash Thakur, 11 Aditya Thakare
The blow to his helmet in what was a tournament-defining moment for Kerala last week had left Salman Nizar concussed, but he has since recovered and is set to play. Kerala have no other injury concerns. They could bring back medium pacer Nedumankuzhy Basil in place of allrounder Ahammed Imran for better balance.
Kerala (likely XI): 1 Akshay Chandran, 2 Rohan Kunnummal, 3 Varun Nayanar, 4 Sachin Baby (capt), 5 Jalaj Saxena, 6 Salman Nizar, 7 Mohammed Azharuddeen (wk), 8 Aditya Sarwate, 9 MD Nidheesh, 10 Basil Thampi, 11 Nedumankuzhy Basil
Pitch and conditions
Nagpur is hot and dry already, with day temperatures touching the mid-30s (Celsius). The fresh surface in use for the final is believed to have a decent grass cover, to begin with, but the dryness will ensure cracks open up, allowing spin to come into the game from days three to five.
Stats and trivia
- Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey is three short of the all-time Ranji record for most wickets in a season. Bihar’s Ashutosh Aman currently holds the record with the 68 wickets that he picked up in 2018-19.
- Nizar is Kerala’s highest run-getter this season, with 607. Nearly 60% of those runs have come in the last three games.
- Vidarbha won the only Ranji final in Jamtha, Nagpur previously, when they beat Saurashtra in 2018-19.
- Sarwate, Vidarbha’s highest wicket-taker during that winning campaign (55 at 19.57), will be looking to win his third Ranji title, this time with Kerala.
- Rathod is 105 runs away from eclipsing Wasim Jaffer’s record for most runs in a single Ranji season by a Vidarbha batter. Jaffer aggregated 1037 during their winning campaign in 2018-19, with four hundreds and two fifties. Rathod has already hit five hundreds and three fifties this season.
Quotes
“He’s a sound leader – a performer who has shown the tenacity to withstand pressure and lead from the front. The entire team has resonated his fighting spirit through the season”
Vidarbha batter Karun Nair on captain Akshay Wadkar.
“In my first meeting with Amay [Khurasiya, head coach] sir in August, I told him we needed just two things: discipline and strengthening of our lower-order batting. I think so far we’ve delivered on both counts. Now, the talk within the group is we don’t have one game left, but two. Final and Irani Cup [between the Ranji winners and a rest of India team]. We are going in with that mindset”
Kerala captain Sachin Baby.
Shashank Kishore is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
Content Source: www.espncricinfo.com