 "Kerala create history by reaching first-ever Ranji Trophy final, look at the team's journey to the top")
Kerala created history on Friday, securing their maiden Ranji Trophy final berth with a dramatic two-run first-innings lead over Gujarat . Making only their second semifinal appearance since their 1957 debut, Kerala’s bowlers held their nerve as Aditya Sarwate (4/111) triggered a collapse, dismissing Gujarat for 455 in 174.4 overs.
Starting the final day at 429/7, Gujarat needed just 29 runs to take the first-innings lead, but Sarwate’s breakthroughs, including a crucial stumping of Jaymeet Patel (79) and a DRS-overturned LBW against Siddharth Desai (30), turned the tide. Arzan Nagwaswalla fought back, but his dismissal off a ricocheted catch sealed Gujarat’s fate. Jalaj Saxena (4/149) also played a key role as Kerala erupted in celebration.
With the result secured, Kerala batted out the second innings, reaching 114/4 in a drawn game. They will face Vidarbha in the final after the latter stunned Mumbai by 80 runs. The final will be held from 26 February to 2 March in Nagpur.
Kerala’s cricket history
It dates back to the mid 2000s. Until then, Kerala’s tryst with top-level cricket has limited perimeter through Tinu Yohannan and S Sreesanth, while Malayalam dailies celebrated the state connection of Sunil Valson, Ajay Jadeja and Abey Kuruvilla.
Perhaps, the biggest cricketing event in the state to a point was the Pooja Knockouts conducted by the Tripunithura Cricket Club from 1950s, where some prominent players such as K Srikkanth and VB Chandrasekhar appeared sporadically.
But a few cricket officials under veteran administrator TC Mathew conducted a meeting in 2005 to bring in a transformation in the state’s cricketing landscape.
“Our talent pool is limited compared to other teams like Mumbai, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu etc. Kerala is actually picking the state squad from 14 districts, a squad of 15 and that makes around 220 players,” TC Mathew, the former BCCI vice-president, told PTI.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“There is no standard in that. So I designed to have an academy in all the districts. That is where we need to find talent and train our coaches.” But that was an arduous task because the state hardly had any full-fledged cricketing infrastructure.
“Our first aim was to build proper infrastructure. Now, we have 17 first-class grounds in the state and in 2005, we didn’t have a single ground.
“We ensured that coaches get enrolled to training programmes of the BCCI and now I think we have more Level 1 coaches in Kerala than many other frontline states. We also have expert in-house curators,” he said.
Former Kerala coach P Balachandran too underlined the growth in the cricketing facilities in the state over the last two decades.
“We get a lot of rain in Kerala. So, it is necessary to have indoor training centres, and now KCA (the state cricket association) has set up such places in all districts, so that the players can train irrespective of the weather,” said Balachandran.
Another salient feature of Kerala’s entry into mainstream cricket was the targeted effort to tap talent from schools and colleges.
“We wanted a cricket team in all schools and colleges in the state and made a coordinated effort with all the managements of the educational institutions. We sent almost 700 coaches to all these places to impart expert training.
“The result is now visible. Once cricketers came only from cities like Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Thalassery. But just take a look at this Kerala team, we have players from Kasargod, Kozhikode, Idukki, Alappuzha, Palakkad etc. There is a good spread,” said Mathew.
Veteran coach Biju George emphasised on the need to continue the hard yards to keep the momentum going.
“Vinod Kumar (KCA president) is a very able administrator. He doesn’t get in the way of proper cricket. He makes sure that the right coaches are there. He made the selector travel with the team,” said George.
“So, there is a lot of accountability. The coaches have given absolute freedom to do whatever is right for the team. In turn, it has instilled belief in the players.
“Also, we should thank the Kerala Cricket Academy for keeping a good supply of quality players,” he added.
Mohammed Azharuddeen, who made a hundred in the semifinal against Gujarat to bag the player of the match award, agreed to that point.
“In fact, I have been playing alongside Salman Nizar from a very early age, and even at the KCA Academy. It has helped us create an understanding and brotherhood between us.
“We always had the belief in ourselves even when we lost top players like Sanju (Samson), Vishnu (Vinod) and Baba (Aparajith) to injuries,” Azharuddeen added.
Belief, camaraderie and unity. It’s the Kerala cricketing story. A lot more sequels will be added to it in future too.
(With agency inputs)
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
