Ignored by state two years ago, batter’s ton gives Vidarbha 286-run lead
NAGPUR: The Kerala camp will spend a sleepless Saturday night regretting over Karun Nair. Over dropping a catch of the batter on Day Four. Over not responding to his offer a couple of seasons ago. Nair, having hit a purple zone this season, made most of a reprieve to take Vidarbha to a dominating position in the Ranji Trophy final. If Nair has his way on the final day, Kerala will feel the agony on Sunday and much beyond.
Having fallen out of Karnataka selectors’ favour two seasons ago, Nair wanted to shift to Kerala. The southern state, though, did not respond to Nair’s SOS. Eventually, sensing that time was running out, the batter shifted base to Vidarbha. On Saturday, Nair made Kerala pay for both the reprieve and the cold shoulder.
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Inside three overs on Saturday, Vidarbha were staring down the barrel at seven for two. Nair, along with first innings hero Danish Malewar, began steading the ship.
His rescue act was all but derailed in the 19th over by Eden Apple Tom. The medium pacer induced an edge off Nair, batting on 31. Akshay Chandran, standing in the slip cordon, though, suffered a ‘you just dropped the cup, mate’ moment. Chandran grassed a regulation catch, and Kerala suffered for most of the day.
Enjoying the form of his life, Nair scripted a Vidarbha comeback with an unbeaten knock of 132 (280b;10×4;2×6). Guiding young Malewar (73;162b;5×4), like he has done throughout this season, Nair took Vidarbha to position of strength at 249 for four in 90 overs.
The pair stitched together a 182-run third wicket partnership to put Vidarbha in driver’s seat — with an overall lead of 286, and six wickets in hand, Vidarbha would hope to bat Kerala out of the title clash on Sunday.
The start of Day Four saw Vidarbha reeling from early double blows by offie Jalaj Saxena and pacer MD Nidheesh. Playing their first Ranji final, Kerala pushed Vidarbha into a corner but failed to deliver the knockout punch.
The lack of big stage experience showed. Apart from the dropped catch, Kerala also shied from placing an attacking field after having the rivals down and almost out. With no one placed in the slip area, two edges induced by Saxena went abegging, and Nair and Malewar made most of Kerala’s shortcomings.The Nair-Malewar pair has so far produced 700-plus runs together for Vidarbha.
In the first innings, Nair had missed out on a century through a run out. He made amends on Saturday. “I was very disappointed to get run out in the first innings. I felt I had missed out. So, I was determined to make it count today but batting in second innings is never easy with the wicket deteriorating,” Nair said after posting his ninth century of this domestic season.
- Brief scores: Vidarbha 379 & 249/4 (K Nair batting 132, D Malewar 73; A Sarvate 1-55) lead Kerala 342 by 286 runs.
