The Ranji Trophy final at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur remained tantalisingly poised, with fortunes fluctuating on the third day. Kerala, first-time finalists, appeared well on course for the first innings lead, but Parth Rekhade — surprise destroyer of Mumbai in the semi-final — picked up the crucial wickets of Sachin Baby and Jalaj Saxena to swing the match in Vidarbha’s favour.
From 324/6, in response to Vidarbha’s 379, Kerala collapsed to 342 all out, a deficit of 37 runs. With big patches of rough on either side and occasional sharp turn, a result appears a near-certainty.
Baby’s was the key wicket. Kerala’s captain, playing his 100th first-class game, had batted over five hours for a vigilant 98, studded with 10 fours, when an unexpected rush of blood saw him swipe a Rekhade delivery towards deep mid-wicket. Karun Nair took the catch, and Baby sat on his haunches for a good while before reluctantly leaving the crease.
Saxena had batted fluently till then, adding 46 for the seventh wicket, but Baby’s exit saw him go into a shell. Only 13 runs came in the next 11.4 overs before the pressure finally got to Saxena. He played a half-hearted stroke that was neither sweep nor lap, and saw the stumps knocked back as a delighted Rekhade celebrated animatedly.
Resuming at 131/3 in the morning, Kerala survived a testing opening hour, with Aditya Sarwate advancing his score to 79. But the drinks break, as it so often tends to, provided the breakthrough, with Sarwate popping a catch to Danish Malewar at silly point. Harsh Dubey, the competition’s stand-out bowler, finally provided the breakthrough he had threatened from the start.
Baby and Salman Nizar, whose helmet famously got Kerala into the final, rebuilt well, but disaster struck on the stroke of lunch. Again, it was Dubey, this time with a delivery that jagged back in sharply to strike Nizar on the pad. He reviewed the decision, but to no avail.
After the interval, Baby grew more cautious, but Mohammed Azharuddeen, centurion against Gujarat in the semi-final, batted with confidence and poise to bring the gap down to nearly 100. He made 34 before the second new ball did the trick for Vidarbha. Darshan Nalkande shaped one back in, and it struck Azharuddeen just below the knee roll. Like Nizar, he too reviewed, but an umpire’s call on leg stump set him on his way.
Thereafter, it was the Baby and Saxena show before Rekhade turned the match on its head. There was time for a slice of history too, with Dubey trapping MD Nidheesh leg before to claim a record 69th wicket for the Ranji season, beating the record set by Bihar’s Ashutosh Aman in 2018-19. It goes without saying that he should be a central figure on the final two days.