At the VCA Stadium in Nagpur, Karun Nair‘s outstanding performance in the 2024–25 Ranji Trophy continued when he struck a spectacular century in the final against Kerala. Nair put Vidarbha in a great position as they pursued their third Ranji Trophy victory with this ton.
Vidarbha had a narrow 37-run advantage after Kerala’s batting performance, led to Sachin Baby’s 98, going into the fourth day of the Ranji Trophy final. However, with openers Parth Rekhade and Dhruv Shorey out of the game after just 14 deliveries, Vidarbha found themselves in early danger at 7/2 in their second innings. Then, as in the previous innings, Nair and Danish Malewar joined forces to keep the ship afloat.
After an unlucky run-out at 86 in the first innings, Karun Nair lost out on a century, but he made up for it in the second. He carefully navigated Kerala’s bowling assault, which featured players like MD Nidheesh and Jalaj Saxena.
With a stroke towards mid-wicket off Saxena’s bowling, Karun Nair achieved his century off 184 balls, marking his 23rd first-class century.
Vidarbha’s lead surpassed 200 runs thanks to his innings. Throughout the domestic season, the 33-year-old batsman has been in outstanding form, scoring over 800 runs in this Ranji Trophy campaign and reaching 8000 first-class runs.
He scored a century in Vidarbha’s last league match against Hyderabad to start his incredible run, which carried over into the knockout stages and helped the team defeat Tamil Nadu. Malewar made 73 of 162 at the other end before losing to Akshay Chandran, but the damage was already done.
India
