It's like the fabled Ripley’s believe it or not story that Kerala - a Southern State that gels with sporting heroes like Jimmy George, P.T. Usha and I.M.Vijayan - will take the centre stage in the BCCI's  national cricket championship final and compete for the prestigious Ranji Trophy.

Without doubt,  the coming days will challenge the eleven players chosen to take the field and all of them who  endured the anxious moments against Jammu & Kashmir and Gujarat, will know what has to.be done exactly in order to  lay their hands on the trophy that Kerala's old Zonal rivals Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have won.

After coming through the eight-team  group stage with three wins and two knock-out matches by the thinnest first innings margins of one and two runs, Kerala has earned the passage into the final. Now it has to get the better of Vidarbha - one of the two teams in the last decade - the other being Saurashtra - that won the title twice and reached the final last year, but lost to Mumbai. 

The Ranji Trophy  tournament has been made famous by the illustrious teams of the yesteryear and contemporary times; Bombay and Mumbai, who have won the glittering trophy 42 times. All teams  covet it. A few have been successful, and the others not.

Kerala (from 1957-58),  combined with Travancore -Cochin team (from 1951-52) has so far played  352 Ranji Trophy matches since its debut in the tournament against Mysore  at the Central College Ground in Bangalore in December 1951.  It has won 66 matches in all, fourteen against Andhra, eleven against Goa, five each against Tripura and Jharkhand and it  has scored morale-boosting wins against Karnataka and Delhi too. Now it's having a shot at the title.

The most famous name to emerge from the State and to have played for India for a good number of years from the  2005-06 season was Shantakumaran Sreesanth who played 27 Tests for India and took 87 wickets with three five wicket collections. He also played 54 one-day internationals and took 75 wickets. He played for Kerala in 23 Ranji Trophy matches. An unpleasant incident in the IPL derailed his international career. He played seven matches of the title winning Indian team  including the final of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007. 

Some good performances in the Ranji Trophy also merited a national call for fast bowler Tinu Yohannan in three Test matches and as many one-day internationals. 

 

Kerala's best bowler has been leg spinner K.N.Ananthapadmanabhan who has taken 310 wickets in 88  Ranji Trophy matches. He has an overall collection of 344 wickets in 105 first class matches. He was a trifle unlucky not to be capped by India in Test cricket.

There are a few more who have represented India  in under-19 and A teams, but  after Sreesanth only one cricketer from the state had succeeded in getting  the nod of national selection committee, Sanju V Samson. Though he had scored three hundreds in T20 in last year for Team India, his journey in Indian colours has been more or less inconsistent and frustrating at times. Refreshingly two or three girls  are in the national women's team. 

Cut to 2025, Kerala has sort of achieved the big breakthrough that has brought a few experienced players in focus. It’s obvious that cricket is already in the mindset of the Kerala youth and this is only bound to increase manifold and the next bright prospect could be the 18 year old leg spinner Mohamed Enaan who had memorable outings against Australia under-19  last September. 

Clearly the change in structure of the Ranji Trophy preliminary league has seen the lightweights getting exposure in the Plate  Group and Elite Group. That Kerala is in the Elite Group is in itself a tribute to their willingness to improve and demonstrate its wherewithal against highly competitive teams.

One of the reasons for Kerala's progress this season has been because of the individual drive of its most experienced player Sachin Baby (418 runs in 9 matches), Mohammed Azhatuddeen (601 runs with one big knock of 177 not out),.Salman Nizar (607 runs with 2 centuries), Rohan Kunnummal (429 runs) and opener Akshay Chandran (333 runs) and Jalaj Saxena (338 runs) have contributed in a big way. The presence of Saxena and Baby has benefitted the team. Moreover Azharuddeen and Nizar too have been around for a decade . 

In the bowling department Kerala's decision to engage left arm spinner Aditya Sarwate (from Vidarbha) has yielded dividends. He has taken 30 wickets at 17.50. He has been part of the Ranji Trophy winning teams and hailing from Nagpur he will be looked upon to offer valuable tips to the Kerala captain. 

Saxen's off breaks has fetched 38 wickets at 18.97 and Kerala will lean heavily on these two spinners to  make inroads into Vidarbha's solid batting line up. M D.Nidheesh, N.P Basil  and Basil  Thampi have taken together 42  wickets as medium pacers.

It has been an all round performance by Kerala so far, a major factor that enabled  it to hold its nerves against Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat in the knock-out. Kerala's bowlers have taken 120 wickets which is a good sign.

Coached by former Madhya Pradesh and India player Amay Khurasia, Kerala has surpassed itself this season. It has experienced a successful journey playing nine matches. The big test will start against Vidarbha which will hunt for its third title.