Big picture: Kerala's time under the sun

Have film stars and politicians ever been this excited about the Ranji Trophy? Kerala's entry into their maiden final has ticked that box. And the manner of their getting there has been nothing less than a Lalettan blockbuster.

It's the biggest moment in the careers of many who come from a part of the country where there's a culture of hero worship, but also where there have been only a few cricket heroes - like S Sreesanth and, more recently, Sanju Samson. But dig a little deeper and you find others with an impeccable body of work.

Like KN Ananthapadmanabhan, now a recognised umpire who led Kerala to their biggest result in the mid-1990s, when they made the pre-quarter-finals in 1994-95. Or Feroze Rashid, who helped them qualify for the Ranji Trophy Super League after they emerged South Zone winners in 1996-97. Or VA Jagadeesh, a probationary bank officer who was one of the classical old-school openers of the early 2000s. The list is long, but they have usually flown under the radar.

So, when the Sachin Baby-led squad takes the field in Nagpur on Wednesday, a state of 35 million known mainly for its football, will have their time under the sun. Their previous shot at a final in 2018-19 ended in heartbreak, but the current squad has a number of players from that game who are not only better off from the experience, but perhaps better equipped, a direct consequence of a more streamlined system.

They are up against Vidarbha, two-time Ranji winners who are now beginning to regularly dominate the domestic scene. A state that for long wasn't known for producing players by the truckloads for India, but is now a feeder line of talent. Like Jitesh Sharma, who took over the mantle from Umesh Yadav and has gone on to play for India in T20Is. Or Harsh Dubey, the season's leading wicket-taker who R Ashwin has taken under his wing.

Vidarbha's growing investment in the age-group set-up, has helped churn out seasoned players like Atharva Taide, Yash Rathod and Yash Thakur. Led astutely by Akshay Wadkar, a rookie when they first won a title in 2017-18, there's a strong core group that now includes senior professionals like Karun Nair and Dhruv Shorey. Vidarbha are favourites, but Kerala have played like a team without baggage and will fight until the end, like they have time and again this season.

Form guide: Vidarbha on a roll

Vidarbha WWWWD (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Kerala DDWDD

Run to the final: Two contrasting journeys

Vidarbha's six wins in seven games were the most by a team in the group stage. Kerala got there on the back of just three wins, having pipped Karnataka and Bengal.

Kerala made the final on the back of two first-innings leads in dramatic circumstances against Jammu & Kashmir and Gujarat, while Vidarbha got here having ousted Tamil Nadu and defending champions Mumbai in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively.

In the spotlight: Aditya Sarwate and Karun Nair

Aditya Sarwate bowled 11 wicketless overs combined out of the 194.5 Vidarbha bowled across two innings in last year's Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai, back spasms holding him back. He ended the season with 40 wickets, the most by a Vidarbha bowler, but soon found himself under scrutiny when his fitness and work ethic were questioned within the team. Sarwate is now Kerala's second-highest wicket-taker this season and is coming off a sensational semi-final performance on the final day against Gujarat. Kerala will bank on Sarwate for plenty of intel on his former team at his home ground.

Karun Nair was in his first season when he hit three centuries during a memorable Ranji Trophy triumph with Karnataka in 2013-14. In the final that followed next year, Nair hit a triple-century as Karnataka beat Tamil Nadu to win back-to-back titles. A decade later, he's back among the runs in a big way. Having topped the charts with a record-breaking 779 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he has the opportunity to trigger talks of an India comeback for the England Tests should he score big in the final.

Team news: Thakare and Nizar fit

Seamer Aditya Thakare, who picked up a five-for in the quarter-final against Tamil Nadu, missed the semi-final owing to a hamstring niggle. Thakare is fit and available for the final. That could mean Vidarbha leave out one of Darshan Nalkande and Nachiket Bhute.

Vidarbha (likely XI): 1 Atharva Taide, 2 Dhruv Shorey, 3 Danish Malewar, 4 Karun Nair, 5 Yash Rathod, 6 Akshay Wadkar (capt, wk), 7 Harsh Dubey, 8 Parth Rekhade, 9 Nachiket Bhute/Darshan Nalkande, 10 Yash Thakur, 11 Aditya Thakare

The blow to his helmet in what was a tournament-defining moment for Kerala last week had left Salman Nizar concussed, but he has since recovered and is set to play. Kerala have no other injury concerns. They could bring back medium pacer Nedumankuzhy Basil in place of allrounder Ahammed Imran for better balance.

Kerala (likely XI): 1 Akshay Chandran, 2 Rohan Kunnummal, 3 Varun Nayanar, 4 Sachin Baby (capt), 5 Jalaj Saxena, 6 Salman Nizar, 7 Mohammed Azharuddeen (wk), 8 Aditya Sarwate, 9 MD Nidheesh, 10 Basil Thampi, 11 Nedumankuzhy Basil

Pitch and conditions

Nagpur is hot and dry already, with day temperatures touching the mid-30s (Celsius). The fresh surface in use for the final is believed to have a decent grass cover, to begin with, but the dryness will ensure cracks open up, allowing spin to come into the game from days three to five.

Stats and trivia

• Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey is three short of the all-time Ranji record for most wickets in a season. Bihar's Ashutosh Aman currently holds the record with the 68 wickets that he picked up in 2018-19.

• Nizar is Kerala's highest run-getter this season, with 607. Nearly 60% of those runs have come in the last three games.

• Vidarbha won the only Ranji final in Jamtha, Nagpur previously, when they beat Saurashtra in 2018-19.

• Sarwate, Vidarbha's highest wicket-taker during that winning campaign (55 at 19.57), will be looking to win his third Ranji title, this time with Kerala.

• Rathod is 105 runs away from eclipsing Wasim Jaffer's record for most runs in a single Ranji season by a Vidarbha batter. Jaffer aggregated 1037 during their winning campaign in 2018-19, with four hundreds and two fifties. Rathod has already hit five hundreds and three fifties this season.

  Quotes

  "He's a sound leader - a performer who has shown the tenacity to withstand pressure and lead from the front. The entire team has resonated his fighting spirit through the season"
  Vidarbha batter Karun Nair on captain Akshay Wadkar.

  "In my first meeting with Amay [Khurasiya, head coach] sir in August, I told him we needed just two things: discipline and strengthening of our lower-order batting. I think so far we've delivered on both counts. Now, the talk within the group is we don't have one game left, but two. Final and Irani Cup [between the Ranji winners and a rest of India team]. We are going in with that mindset"
  Kerala captain Sachin Baby.