Sarwate leads Kerala’s reply against Vidarbha in Ranji Trophy final

NAGPUR: Aditya Sarwate’s unbeaten 66 anchored Kerala’s reply as the visitor reached 131/3 at stumps on the second day of the Ranji Trophy final, after restricting host Vidarbha to 379 in the first innings on Thursday.

Doughty Kerala fought all day long to keep the game interestingly poised as it trailed by another 248 runs in the first innings, riding on local star Sarwate’s fine knock after its bowlers did not allow Vidarbha to post a huge total in the first essay.

Vidarbha had set sights on a total around 450 after reaching 254/4 on the opening day, but Kerala fought back incredibly well to keep the host under 400 which featured a career-best 153 from Danish Malewar and Karun Nair’s 86.

Kerala, which had ended the opening day’s play with the vital dismissal of Karun Nair (86), remained persistent throughout the first session on the second day as its seamers MD Nidheesh (3/61), Eden Apple Tom (3/102) and NM Basil (2/60) produced a unified show.

Basil snuck one through the gap between Malewar’s bat and pads for the first breakthrough, ending the No 4 batter’s charge at 153 off 285 balls with 15 fours and three sixes.

But perhaps the biggest breakthroughs of the day came for Kerala when Eden had Vidarbha’s red-hot form batter Yash Rathod caught in the slips for a mere three.

Vidarbha skipper Akshay Wadkar’s (23) resistance did not last long when his charge against Eden’s delivery outside off, took an edge and keeper Mohammed Azharuddeen did the rest.

To its credit, Vidarbha’s tail consisting of Akshay Karnewar (12), Harsh Dubey (12 not out) and Nachiket Bhute (32) did well to drag it as far as 379.

It was imperative for Vidarbha to strike with the new ball and Darshan Nalkande (2/22) provided two early wickets, cleaning up both the Kerala openers Akshay Chandran (14) and Rohan Kunnummal (0) to reduce Kerala to a precarious 14/2.

But Sarwate, who was once a vital cog in Vidarbha’s line-up and was a member of its two-time title winning campaigns in 2017-18 and 2018-19, stood against his former side to lead a strong reply for Kerala.

The 35-year-old Sarwate, who had switched from Vidarbha to Kerala after the last Ranji Trophy season, battled hard to reach 66 not out from 120 balls with 10 fours and remained stoic even as there were challenges along the way.

Sarwate also had luck on his side when Vidarbha did not opt for a caught-behind appeal from skipper Wadkar in the 25th over. The replays showed the ball had brushed Sarwate’s gloves.

The left-handed Sarwate put on 93 for the third wicket with Ahammed Imran (37 off 83 balls, 3x4s), who too had a reprieve early on when he was batting on nine.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 379 in 123.1 overs (D Malewar 153, K Nair 86, MD Nidheesh 3/61, EA Tom 3/102) vs Kerala 131/3 in 39 overs (A Sarwate 66 batting)