It all comes down to this. The domestic 2024-25 cricket season in India will end with the Ranji Trophy Final. 2-time champions and last year’s finalists Vidarbha will take on Kerala at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. The former are undefeated, having won eight of their nine games. The latter haven’t lost a match yet either but only have three wins. One might say Kerala is lucky to be in the Ranji Trophy Final, given their quarterfinal and semifinal victories were due to draws where they secured a 1-run against Jammu & Kashmir and 2-run lead against Gujarat, respectively.
Kerala’s luck, both good and bad
Of course, none of this matters. It boils down to this game. Whoever wins will be remembered. No one will care about the path of victory. It’s the trophy that everyone cares about. Kerala may have been lucky in some matches, but one mustn’t forget they didn’t have Sanju Samson. The wicketkeeper was available for selection, but an injury ruled him out a week before the quarterfinal. Samson will to support Kerala despite having some difference with the KCA after the whole Vijay Hazare Trophy kerfuffle.
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Vidarbha, favourites to win the Ranji Trophy Final
Coming to the match itself, Vidarbha will be the favourites. Not because they have been dominant, having beaten Mumbai, the 42-time champions, in their semifinal, but because they are playing at home. Six batters from Vidarbha have scored over 400 runs this season; that number is four for Kerala.
Harsh Dubey has been the best bowler in the competition. He has 66 wickets in 9 matches. No other bowler has more than 44. Veteran Jalaj Saxena has been extremely useful to Kerala. Aditya Sarwate and MD Nidheesh have done well, but Vidarbha’s Aditya Thakare and Akshay Wakhare have been better.
Logic would suggest Vidarbha would easily win. In a match played across five days, the stronger team usually wins. But Kerala has shown time and again this Ranji Trophy season that they can punch above their weight. They don’t have the wins, but they have kept teams at bay. They have fought tooth and nail to get here and won’t let go so easily.
Ranji Trophy Final: Squads
Vidarbha: Atharva Taide, Dhruv Shorey, Parth Rekhade, Danish Malewar, Karun Nair, Yash Rathod, Akshay Wadkar (c & wk), Harsh Dubey, Nachiket Bhute, Darshan Nalkande, Yash Thakur, Akshay Wakhare, Akshay Karnewar, Siddhesh Wath, Aditya Thakare, Shubham Kapse, Aman Mokhade, Mandar Mahale, Yash Kadam, Praful Hinge, Umesh Yadav
Kerala: Akshay Chandran, Rohan Kunnummal, Varun Nayanar, Sachin Baby (c), Jalaj Saxena, Mohammed Azharuddeen (wj), Salman Nizar, Ahammed Imran, Aditya Sarwate, MD Nidheesh, Nedumankuzhy Basil, Basil Thampi, Vishnu Vinod, Baba Aparajith, Fazil Fanoos, Vathsal Govind, Shoun Roger, Vaisakh Chandran, Krishna Prasad, Anand Krishnan, KM Asif
