Karun Nair's century propels Vidarbha to strong position in Ranji final

Nair's performance in the fourth century of the Ranji Trophy season, and his ninth overall including five tons in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, has propelled Vidarbha to the brink of their third Ranji Trophy title. Kerala will not soon forget that they did not offer Nair a professional contract when Karnataka had already moved on from him. With just one day of play remaining, Nair has effectively closed the door on Kerala's chances.

A dropped regulation catch in the 19th over of the day ended up having a huge impact on the innings as Nair went on to score another quality hundred, one that defied Kerala’s effort nearly all day. Danish Malewar also shone for hosts Vidarbha at Jamtha’s VCA Stadium as the right-handed batter followed up on his first-innings 153 with a resolute knock of 73.

The biggest moment of the day arrived in the 19th over when Akshay Chandran spilled a regulation grab at first slip off young pacer Eden Apple Tom when Nair was on 31. Eden’s length was short and the ball took off from the surface, and off the edge of the bat, lob towards first slip, where Chandran was required to grab with hands reverse-cupped in front of his face. But he could not keep the ball in control and it popped out of his hands. From thereon, Nair hardly gave anything away to his opponents.

Hitting 10 fours and two sixes, Nair piled up another superb knock which added to the laurels he has collected this season and the celebration on reaching the triple-figure mark was only fitting.

Nair took off his helmet and waved it to the dressing room along with his bat, then put both down to signal ‘nine’ with his fingers to show the number of centuries he has made this season across two competitions. His strokeplay was serene as it has been throughout this season with the senior batter getting his runs on both sides of the wicket.

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Vidarbha, who began the day with a 37-run lead in the second innings. Veteran spinner Jalaj Saxena (1/76) struck as early as the second over to clean up Parth Rekhade while Mohammed Azharuddeen’s brilliance got Kerala the second breakthrough in the third.

Dhruv Shorey went chasing one outside the off that kept shaping away from him, and despite the deflection off the edge, the ball kept moving away. Azharuddeen flung to his right and collected the catch in front of second slip that left Vidarbha in a spot of bother at 7/2 with the overall lead only 44.

This was when Nair and Malewar joined forces to defy Kerala like they had done in the first innings, when they raised a 115-run stand. Keeping it simple yet not missing a chance to score, the two added 182 runs for the third wicket to take the contest away from Kerala.

Malewar fell for 73 (162 b, 5x4) when Chandran found the outside edge which flew to Sachin Baby at first slip. Yash Rathod (24) put on a further 49 runs for the fourth wicket with Nair before he was pinned in front of the wicket by Aditya Sarwate (1/55).

Brief Scores: Vidarbha 379 & 249/4 in 90 overs (Danish Malewar 73, Karun Nair 132*; Akshay Chandran 1/29); Kerala 342.

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