The Ranji Trophy season has truly peaked with the semi-finals clash between Gujarat and Kerala providing a scintillating domestic cricket experience for the cricketing world. The match was open ended from the very beginning. However, a fateful moment turned the tide of the encounter as Hemang Patel arrived on the crease to bat for Gujarat at No.5 as the home side were desperate to save the Test match and secure a place in the finals of the tournament. However, Patel’s arrival was not received well by Kerala players as they registered their protest to the on-field umpires.
Kerala players visibly unhappy with the arrival of Hemang Patel on the crease
The Kerala side was a few wickets away to script history before Patel’s arrival sparked a new on-field controversy at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The Gujarat middle-order batter was the concussion replacement for spinner Ravi Bishnoi who could not continue further in the match after a ball hit his face while fielding. Bishnoi, who recently played for India in the T20I series against England, had to leave the ground with blood oozing out of his nose.
Kerala off-spinner Jalaj Saxena was furious with Patel substituting Bishnoi, amplifying the point that it is not a like-for-like substitute with the on-field umpire. Other teammates joined the protest from the off-spinner and echoed Saxena’s argument with the match officials.
“Ravi Bishnoi is a bowler and he generally bats 9 or 10 for their side. And then as a concussion player, you are getting a player who bats really well and is promoted to bat number 5. I think that was unfair for us and that’s what I was telling the umpire. At least, if you have taken a batsman in place of him, make him play at number 11,” Saxena argued.
Patel did help his side inch closer to a place in the finals by playing a 27-run knock off 41 balls which stabilized the Gujarat innings at a crucial juncture. The home side were just 29 runs behind Kerala’s 1st innings total of 457 runs at the end of Day 4 of the Test match.
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Kerala script history by securing a place in the Ranji Trophy finals
Despite Patel’s best efforts to sail his team through in the Ranji Trophy finals, his innings was fairly short-lived on the final day of the match. Consequently, the entire lower order of Gujarat succumbed to the pressure from a disciplined bowling effort from Kerala as they bowled out the home side on 455 runs securing a 2-run lead over Gujarat and consolidating their place in the finals, a first for the visitors in almost 74 years of their presence in the Ranji Trophy. Kerala will now face the winner of the other semi-final between Vidarbha and Mumbai on February 26.
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