Ranji Trophy final: Powered by outsiders Karun Nair’s Vidarbha and Aditya Sarwate’s Kerala vie for domestic title | Cricket News
As Karun Nair fixed his cap, stroked the stubbled chin and smiled into the cameras mounted near the stairway to the dressing room, Kerala captain Sachin Baby, striding onto the ground, yipped at the reporters queuing up to shoot questions: “Avanod Malayalathil utharam parayan para!” Ask him to give the answers in Malayalam. Karun flashed a hearty smile and retorted: “Seri, aykotte! Roughly translated as “ok, let it be.” It’s been a dreamy season for Karun’s Vidarbha, and Baby’s Kerala. Now the two teams will be vying for the Ranji Trophy. There is a bit of history; in 2017-18, Vidarbha had steamrollered Kerala in the quarterfinals enroute to their first championship title. Around 20-25 journalists from Kerala are at Nagpur, sniffing a chance to report history. For the next half an hour after, Karun patiently answered their questions, often indulging in one-on-one sessions, forced to hear the same questions about his ties with Kerala and give similar answers. Like, “how often do you visit Kerala? What’s your favourite cuisine? Do you speak Malayalam at home? …









