Vidarbha beat Kerala with first innings lead to win Ranji Trophy for third time

NAGPUR: For the last five days, Vidarbha cricket loyalists have been shouting 'Vee-darbha, Vee-darbha' at the Jamtha Stadium here. On Sunday, their numbers grew to a few thousand.
At around 2.20pm, the chants reached a peak. The crescendo drowned the pain of last season's heartbreak, and the agony of a five-year wait for another title.
Vidarbha capped an outstanding Ranji Trophy season in style to emerge champions. The team with most wins this season, batted Kerala out of the title clash to lift the Ranji Trophy for the third time. Having earned a 37-run first innings lead, Vidarbha extended their second innings to 375 for 9 in 143.5 overs and batted till the fag end of second session on Day 5.
As Darshan Nalkande, batting at No 10, ran two to complete his fifty, umpires called it a day. The younger among the Vidarbha camp rushed to the pitch. Yash Thakur, Vidarbha No. 11, bat in one hand, a souvenir stump in the other, was hugged by Yash Rathod, the highest scorer with 960 runs.
Harsh Dubey, having scripted history with 69 scalps, uprooted another stump to keep as the memory of a once in-a-lifetime season, topped by the 'Player of the Series' award.

Like all through the final, Kerala had their chances on Day 5 too. Like all through the final, they were denied by Vidarbha. The day started with Kerala sniffing an early chance thanks to Aditya Sarwate. The left-arm spinner, a Vidarbha hero till last season, deceived Karun Nair (135, 295b) to give Kerala a breakthrough in the seventh over. Nair, after adding three runs to his overnight score, charged down to Sarvate only to miss the line of the ball and get stumped.
Skipper Akshay Wadkar and Harsh Dubey then denied Kerala another wicket for the next 11.4 overs. However, their dismissals in back-to-back overs saw Vidarbha slide to 283 for 7 in 110 overs. With around two-and-half sessions left, and Vidarbha lead at 320, Kerala would have hoped to dismiss the tail soon to give themselves a chance of chasing the total.
Vidarbha, though, had men in their ranks to deny the rival any footing on the last day. Throughout the season, someone or the other has bailed out Vidarbha from tight situations. How could the final be any different?
After the big names in the batting line-up had done their job, the Vidarbha lower order denied Kerala the chance to have a go at glory. Akshay Karnewar, on the fringes for most of the season, made 30.
SCORES: Vidarbha 379 & 375 for 9 (K Nair 135, D Malewar 73, D Nalkande 51; A Sarwate 4-96) draw with Kerala 342. Vidarbha win by first innings lead