Actualy the the fate of the contest was all but sealed on the third evening when Vidarbha edged ahead with a slender lead of 37 runs in the first innings, having dismissed a doughty Kerala for 342 after putting on 379 runs batting first.
On Sunday, Vidarbha did what they had planned — to bat, bat and bat — and reached 375 for nine with Karun Nair making 135 (295 balls, 10x4s, 2x6s), Danish Malewar scoring 73 and Darshan Nalkande chipping in with a 51 not out.On Sunday, Vidarbha did what they had planned — to bat, bat and bat — and reached 375 for nine with Karun Nair making 135 (295 balls, 10x4s, 2x6s), Danish Malewar scoring 73 and Darshan Nalkande chipping in with a 51 not out.On Sunday, Vidarbha did what they had planned — to bat, bat and bat — and reached 375 for nine with Karun Nair making 135 (295 balls, 10x4s, 2x6s), Danish Malewar scoring 73 and Darshan Nalkande chipping in with a 51 not out.On Sunday, Vidarbha did what they had planned — to bat, bat and bat — and reached 375 for nine with Karun Nair making 135 (295 balls, 10x4s, 2x6s), Danish Malewar scoring 73 and Darshan Nalkande chipping in with a 51 not out.
Vidarbha's win now also makes them one of the strongest outfits in the Indian domestic cricket, for they had also finished as the runner-up in the Ranji Trophy last season.
The team under the captaincy of Akshay Wadkar and head coach Usman Ghani produced dominant performances throughout the Ranji Trophy season which was, for the first time in its 90-year history, split into two halves.
Vidarbha emerged as the best team across all the four groups in the league stage with six wins in seven matches giving them 40 points.
Unlike Kerala who also had luck on their side in the knockouts when they beat Jammu and Kashmir (quarterfinal) and Gujarat (semifinal) by barest of margins and progressed on basis of first-innings leads, Vidarbha grabbed outright wins.
Vidarbha crushed Tamil Nadu, last year's semifinalists, by 198 runs in the quarterfinal and went on to pummel defending champions Mumbai by 80 runs in the semifinal.
Overall, Vidarbha won nine of the 10 matches they played in the Ranji Trophy this season, which reflects the dominance of the team in India's premier domestic competition.
Vidarbha resumed the final day's play with the contest completely in their control, having an overnight lead of 286 runs.
Even though Nair could only add three more runs to his overnight tally, Vidarbha batted for long enough — close to the tea break — taking their overall lead to 412 runs, far beyond the reach of Sachin Baby's side.
The triumph was achieved on the back of all-round performances, which had two of Vidarbha's youngest players taking charge of their team's showings on the field.