NEW DELHI: Vidarbha‘s in-form batter Karun Nair continued his sublime touch in the Ranji Trophy final against Kerala at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha on Saturday.
Batting in the second innings, Nair walked in at No. 4 when Vidarbha was struggling at 7/2, following Kerala’s early breakthroughs.
Adding to the overnight 37-run first-innings lead, Nair partnered with Danish Malewar, with whom he had previously shared a match-defining 215-run stand.
Nair thwarted Kerala’s comeback hopes with a fluent century off 184 balls, extending Vidarbha’s lead by over 200 runs in the final session of the day.
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This marked Nair’s second hundred in a Ranji Trophy final across four appearances since his debut for Karnataka in 2013-14.
In the first innings, he surpassed 8,000 first-class runs in his 152nd match and, for the first time, crossed 800 runs in a single Ranji Trophy season. It was also his ninth century of the season, and his celebration after reaching the three-figure mark signaled the same.
The 33-year-old, who returned to prominence with a stellar Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign last month, amassing 752 runs and five centuries in seven innings, continued his fine form in the second phase of the Ranji Trophy.
He struck a century in Vidarbha’s final league game against Hyderabad and followed it up with his 22nd First-Class ton in the quarterfinal win over Tamil Nadu.
Nair featured in the Ranji Trophy final during his maiden First-Class season in 2013-14, where Karnataka secured the title against Maharashtra. The following year, he delivered a record-breaking 328 — the highest individual score in a Ranji final — against Tamil Nadu, earning Player of the Match honours as Karnataka successfully defended their crown.