At one point, Jammu & Kashmir deployed six close-in fielders including the wicket keeper to crowd, converge on and cackle off two of Kerala’s quietest batsmen, into submission, while snapping sharp catches that brought four quick wickets. There was even a backward short leg, lingering in the batsman’s peripheral vicinity, and hissing away sweet inanities into the ears of Kerala’s flank defenders, Nos 7 and 8, Salman Nizar and Mohammed Azharuddeen At 180/6, with a good part of two sessions left, Kerala were not even pretending to go for the 399 target J&K set them, clear that they would rub in the one-run first innings lead into the opponents’ faces the whole day. But defending 90 overs for a draw is an art. Nizar and Azhar did just that, to put Kerala into their second-ever Ranji semifinals. They would like nothing more than to beat Gujarat at home in Ahmedabad and take a shot at, possibly, Vidarbha. who beat them in the 2018 semis, should Mumbai be tamed at Nagpur in the other last-four encounter. …