Follow UsKerala cricket team, on February 12 (Wednesday), created history after they showed massive resistance to bat out the entire Day 5 of their Ranji Trophy 2024-25 quarterfinal clash against Jammu and Kashmir and thereby drew the game.
As a result of the draw, the Kerala team reached the semi-final of the prestigious first-class tournament for just the second time in their history.
Kerala last reached the semi-final of the tournament in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season. They were eventually beaten by Vidarbha, the winners of that season, in a home semi-final at Wayanad.
This time around, though, the Sachin Baby-led side will be up against Gujarat, the side that they beat in the 2018-19 season in the quarterfinal to reach the semis. Thus, the team from South India will be looking to make it better this time around and reach the final.
Needing to bat out the entire day, Kerala, who took the narrowest of first innings, lead by one-run against J&K, put in their everything at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune to reach 295/6 at the end of 126 overs in their second essay.
In the first innings, thanks to Salman Nizar’s unbeaten 112 and 67 from veteran Jalaj Saxena, Kerala just about crossed the 280-run mark set by J&K in their first innings.
In the second innings, Nizar was once again among the runs, but it was the fight shown by him (44* off 162 balls) and others, including Baby (48 off 162 balls), Akhsay Chandran (48 off 183 balls) and Mohammed Azharuddeen (67* off 118 balls) that got Kerala through.