For Sachin Baby and his team, playing in the Ranji Trophy semifinal is the realisation of a dream.
“To know that we are playing is an awesome feeling,” he said. “From the time I made my Ranji debut in 2009, I have been hearing my teammates saying that they want to play in Irani Trophy, but to play in it we have to win the Ranji first. If I could be the captain of the Kerala team that wins its first ever Ranji, I will consider that as my greatest achievement.”
Kerala’s coach Dav Whatmore said he was happy that the team performed well and reached thus far in the competition. “And we are all looking forward to this match, which is another challenge,” he said. “We hope to do well and avoid distractions.”
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Missed chance
About Kerala’s loss to Vidarbha last year in the quarterfinals, he admitted the team had let go of the early advantage. Vidarbha had been reduced to 95 for six before it went on to make 246 in the first innings.
“Vidarbha was averaging 400 runs in the first innings so we did well to bowl them out for 246,” he said. “But sadly we were not able to capitalise.”
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His counterpart Chandrakant Pandit said Umesh Yadav’s return to the squad certainly made a difference. “It is always nice to have international players joining the team,” he said. “But our other players have also performed well.”
Handling pressure
The former India wicketkeeper said the team was confident of handling the pressure of being the defending champion. “The boys have got used to it, after winning the semifinal and final last year,” he said. “We just hope to continue winning.”
Vidarbha captain stressed on the strength of his side’s batting. “Our aim has been to bat only once in a match,” Faiz Fazal said. “That is what we intend to do here, too.”