Ashok Namboodiri
Kerala drew their Ranji Trophy Group B match against a powerful Maharashtra at Thiruvananthapuram. A fluent 54 off 63 balls from Sanju Samson, Mohammed Azaruddeen’s brisk 36 and Salman Nizar’s 49 helped the state get to within 20 runs of the Maharashtra total. Kerala cricket has always been about quiet persistence of players who built something lasting in a state more famous for football fields and athletics tracks than cricket pitches.
Kerala’s cricketing story began in 1957, when the team, then known as Travancore-Cochin, made its Ranji debut. For decades, the state hovered at the edges of India’s cricket map —spirited but seldom celebrated. The early pioneers such as Balan Pandit held the fort before Tinu Yohannan broke through as the first player from Kerala to represent India in Test cricket in 2001. His debut under Sourav Ganguly marked the start of a new era. It gave the belief that a boy from the coastal belt could stand tall on the national stage.
Shantakumaran Sreesanth made his debut in 2006 and played all formats of international cricket. Sandeep Warrier played one T20I for India. After the spot-fixing ban in 2013, Sreesanth has dabbled with an acting career. His catch to win the 2007 T20 World Cup will be remembered fondly. The illustirous list of players from the state also include KN Ananthapadmanabhan, Sachin Baby, Raiphi Gomez and Sony Cheruvathoor. The last two are regulars at Malayalam commentary in the IPL.
One cannot talk about Kerala Ranji cricket without mentioning Jalaj Saxena, who since his debut for the state in 2015, played nine seasons for the state before parting ways. He is now playing for Maharashtra. He has scored more than 6,000 runs and taken 400 wickets, which no one in Ranji history has. Jalaj said he had “made peace with not representing India” and that his “heart and emotions are with first-class cricket”. How is that for a story on sheer endurance?
Much of the belief of Kerala in cricket can be traced back to Tripunithura, near Kochi, where the Pooja Cricket Tournament has been held every year since 1951. Conceived by K. V. Kelappan Thampuran, with support from the Cochin royal family, it is now celebrated as the first ever one-day cricket tournament in the world predating England’s Gillette Cup by more than a decade. The format was radical for its time: matches decided in a single day, with a fixed number of overs to guarantee a result. Played at the historic Palace Oval, the event blended festive energy with fierce competition, and became Kerala’s cradle of cricketing culture.
Every generation needs a face, and for Kerala cricket, that face is Sanju Samson. From Vizhinjam near Thiruvananthapuram, Sanju has risen to captain an IPL franchise, lead his state with calm assurance, and symbolise Kerala’s new cricketing attitude — confident, stylish, and fearless. “Kerala cricket is not about producing one-off players anymore,” says an ardent fan. “It’s about creating a system where every boy who dreams with a tennis ball in hand knows that a Ranji cap, or even an India jersey, is within reach.”
Kerala cricket now stands on strong foundations with good infrastrucutre across the state. The next step is consistency — converting talent into trophies, and translating passion into sustained excellence.The draw against Maharashtra may not dominate national headlines, but it reflects what Kerala has become: a side that competes with purpose and pride.
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