Amay Khurasiya has done for the Kerala cricket team what no coach before him could. He took Kerala to the Ranji Trophy final. And he recorded this historic feat in his first season as the Kerala coach. He is proud of the way his boys braved the odds to reach the final, and came close … Read more
What if there was no Mike-Gatting-reverse-sweep moment for Sachin Baby? What if Ahammed Imran didn’t gift his wicket away battling so hard? What if Akshay Chandran held on to that catch from Karun Nair? If none of the above had happened, Kerala probably would have been celebrating one of its greatest moments in its rich … Read more
Sachin Baby has no qualms to admit that his slog-sweep was a turning point in the Ranji Trophy final. He had been batting brilliantly up until that moment, leading Kerala’s spirited chase for the first-innings lead against Vidarbha. After he was caught at deep mid-wicket, Kerala’s reply to the hosts’ 379 ended 37 runs behind. … Read more
Vidarbha’s Harsh Dubey finished as the highest wicket-taker of the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season at the end of the final against Kerala in Nagpur on Sunday. The left-arm spinner broke Ashutosh Aman’s record for most wickets in a single season, eclipsing it by one wicket, tallying 69 wickets in ten matches. Dubey finished the season … Read more
Vidarbha’s Yash Rathod ended the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 campaign as the highest run-getter for the season. The middle-order batter accumulated 960 runs at a healthy average of 53.33 in his side’s title-winning run. Rathod tallied five hundreds and three fifties from 10 games for the season. Rathod was one of the three Vidarbha batters in … Read more
Sachin Baby did all the hard work in the toughest of conditions. But he undid the effort with a shot that might haunt him for a long time to come. With Kerala 55 runs short of Vidarbha’s first-innings score of 379, Sachin went down on his knee to slog-sweep Parth Rekhade. The Kerala captain, bating … Read more
The excitement is palpable in the Kerala camp at the VCA Stadium on this humid afternoon. The team manager, Nazir Machan, is in great demand with the multiple television crews that have come from Kerala. He tells one channel after another how thrilled every player is about Kerala’s first-ever Ranji Trophy final. The team’s captain … Read more
Karun Nair has perhaps known the glorious uncertainties of cricket, and life, more than most players. He scored a triple hundred in only his third Test, was dropped for the next (because he had only stepped in for an injured Ajinkya Rahane). He played three more Tests before he was discarded, back in 2017. Then … Read more
Far from the madding crowd lies the VCA stadium. It is the last stop for a maddeningly thrilling journey for Kerala in India’s premier domestic cricket tournament. An 81-run partnership by the last pair against Jammu & Kashmir that gave a one-run first-innings lead in the quarterfinal; and a two-run lead against Gujarat, courtesy a … Read more
The 2024-2025 Ranji Trophy season has witnessed a lot of exceptional performances from the bowlers, but a handful of them have stood out, occupying the top places in the wicket-taking charts this season. Bowlers like Harsh Dubey, Auqib Nabi, and Shams Mulani have showcased extraordinary skills and consistency in their performances, making significant contributions to their teams. … Read more