Thiruvananthapuram, March 1 Strangely a Keralite – Karun Nair playing for Vidarbha is now standing between the resilient Kerala Ranji squad which was aiming to write into history books on their first-ever appearance in the finals of India's premier domestic tournament.
The hopes of Kerala winning the trophy on the basis of the first innings lead diminished when they were bowled out 37 runs short of the Vidarbha team’s first innings total of 379.
On day four (Saturday), the hopes of Kerala still making cricketing history remained when two Vidarbha wickets fell in the third over with the score at seven.
But then came the role of the Keralite in the Vidarbha team, Karun Nai,r who has been having a fantastic domestic season.
At the close of play on Day Four, he literally batted Kerala out of lifting the Ranji Trophy for the first time.
Vidarbha were 249 for the loss of four wickets, have an overall lead of 286, and just the fifth day's play remains. Karun Nair was batting unbeaten on 132, and the captain Akshay Wadkar was on four.
The 33-year-old Karun Nair was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, as his father, Kaladharan Nair, a mechanical engineer by profession, was working there at that time.
Both Kaladharan and his wife, Prema, hail from Chengannur in the Alappuzha district, but they have long been settled in Bengaluru.
With Vidarbha already sitting in the driver's seat by virtue of the first innings lead, there will be no hurry on the part of Wadkar as they have six wickets left, and only a miracle will help Kerala lift the Ranji Trophy for the first time.
As things stand now, Kerala will, in all likelihood, have to wait another year to achieve what it has never achieved.
Kerala won their quarterfinal against Jammu and Kashmir with just a one-run first innings lead, and in the semifinal, they bowled out Gujarat, two short of getting past Kerala’s first innings total.
Incidentally, only just two Keralaites who played the Ranji Trophy for Kerala have played test cricket for India, and it includes pacers Tinu Yohanan and S.Sreesanth.
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