There was agony, and then there was ecstasy. Kerala lost the Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha in Nagpur—by conceding the first innings lead—after having one hand on the cup. Nevertheless, the team would still take it, finishing second-best in India's premier First Class tournament out of 32 teams.
Kerala's 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season was a rollercoaster of sorts. With the tournament being played in two halves for the first time, there were a lot of variables. It managed to win only three out of the seven league games, with two of the matches against Karnataka and Bengal getting washed out. The qualification was tricky and the match against Madhya Pradesh went down to the wire. The quarterfinal against Jammu and Kashmir and the semifinal against Gujarat at Ahmedabad were downright thrillers—until it ran into its perpetual nemesis in Vidarbha.
Kerala had previously lost its knockout rounds in the Ranji Trophy to Vidarbha in 2017-18, when it first made it to the quarterfinal, and then in 2018-19, when it went one step further, in the semifinal. As for Vidarbha, it came well prepared, having lost the final just as agonisingly against Mumbai last year. At one point, Kerala even looked poised to win. But just as skipper Sachin Baby was in his zone, accompanied at the crease by Jalaj Saxena, he had a brain-fade moment, picking the lone fielder out in the deep in an attempt to a glory shot to get to his hundred. That put paid to Kerala's hopes of winning.
1983-Moment for Kerala
Notwithstanding the near-miss, Kerala's run to the final this season is akin to India's 1983 World Cup-winning moment. From PT Usha in athletics to IM Vijayan in football, Kerala has always been a sporting powerhouse that has had its share of heroes over the years. True, the state has produced national cricketers too, most notably Sanju Samson, in recent times. But it continues to be a laggard in the Ranji Trophy, with state authorities keen to promote other sports.
The Ranji Trophy itself has undergone tremendous changes in the past 25 years, including the addition of a number of teams. Kerala's first experiment with professionals began in the early 2000s, with former India cricketers Sujith Somasunder and Sadagopan Ramesh joining the team in different seasons, along with Somasetty Suresh. For some reason, Kerala didn't persist with it, until it eventually got Arun Karthik, Amit Verma, Robin Uthappa and Shreyas Gopal in recent times. With Aditya Sarwate and Baba Aparajith joining its ranks this season, Kerala had three professionals in the team for the first time ever.
Getting professionals is nothing to be ashamed of, given that Kerala cricketers in the past, such as M. Suresh Kumar, had played for Railways; even Vidarbha has two professionals—including Kerala-origin Karun Nair—playing for it now. Notably, Nair was keen to play for his home state after having been dumped by Karnataka on account of poor form a couple of years ago. But by the time the wise men at the Kerala Cricket Association confabulated and got back to him, Vidarbha had already struck a deal with him.
How It All Began
Kerala's participation in the Ranji Trophy began in the early 1950s', when it made its debut in the premier domestic competition as Travancore-Cochin in 1951-52 at the initiative of GV Raja, an avid sports enthusiast. Ranji Trophy used to be a zonal knockout tournament those days, and Kerala was routinely defeated in the first rounds. Only 1953-54 was an exception, when it made it to the second level. The team was led by brothers PM Raghavan and PM Anandan, both hailing from Thalassery—then part of Malabar—until 1957-58, when Travancore-Cochin was replaced by Kerala.
Both Raghavan and Anandan were nephews of Mambally Bapu, who, according to popular lore, baked the “first Christmas cake” in India in 1883. The following generation of Mambally cricketers included PMK Mohandas, PMK Raghunath and APM Gopalakrishnan, all of whom continued the family tradition by establishing bakeries across the state after their playing days.
Kerala has had iconic cricketers, such as leg-spinner KN Ananthapadmanabhan, off-spinner B Ramprakash, all-rounder Sunil Oasis in the ‘90s, along with Sreekumar Nair, part of the India Under-19 winning team in 2000. Things got better for the state's cricket at the turn of the millennium when Ranji Trophy was turned into a national league competition, from a zonal one. Until then, Kerala's best performance was making the pre-quarterfinal in 1994-95. When Tinu Yohannan made it to the national team in 2001 as the first cricketer representing Kerala, it gave a fillip to the sport altogether. This was followed by the much more popular debut of S. Sreesanth in 2005.
Kerala made it to the semifinals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India's domestic T20 tournament in 2013, on the back of some of its young stars getting exposure in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as part of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala team, in its lone season, in 2011. The Kerala team kept getting better and began performing consistently in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the domestic 50-over tournament, in the years that followed.
Grassroots Cricket
As part of its initiative to inspire the next generation of cricketers, the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) flew a batch of 45 boys from the state's Under-14 and Under-16 teams to the Jamtha stadium in Vidarbha for the final. They were flown back in a plane specially chartered by the KCA to bring back Kerala's vanquished team.
Kerala's recently launched T20 league, on the lines of Tamil Nadu, should go a long way in popularising cricket among the football-crazy people of the state. Gone are the days when Malayalis played gully cricket with improvised coconut willows. Cricket academies are springing up even in mofussil towns in the state today. Coaches also play an important role in shaping the next generation of cricketers, and Amay Khurasiya has contributed tremendously to sending Kerala to the Ranji final this season.
Known for his big-hitting prowess in his playing days, Khurasiya gained prominence among Indian fans when he went on to get selected ahead of Vinod Kambli for the 1999 World Cup. He was instrumental in instilling the virtues of grafting and a never-say-die attitude within this team. This season, Kerala reaped the rewards for its teamwork and was clearly more than the sum of its parts.
What Lies Ahead
Can Kerala go one step further in the Ranji Trophy next year? Considering the team was without Sanju Samson and Baba Aparajith for much of the season, it seems possible to improve its showing. However, the team clearly lacks a big-scoring top-order batsman like Karun Nair, and unless some of the youngsters step up, Kerala will find it tough to dominate the big teams.
Kerala would also do well to persuade Sandeep Warrier to get back to the side to bolster its fast-bowling unit after the speedster switched to Tamil Nadu two seasons ago. The KCA needs to ensure that it widens its pool of players. The keen observers of the game would know that Kerala has pretty much had the same pool of around 30 players in the last decade. If the team can persuade the Kerala-born Devdutt Padikkal or Karun Nair to play for it next season, that would go a long way in bolstering its prospects and overcoming the heartbreak.
(Anand Kochukudy is a senior journalist and columnist)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
