From Cricketing Outpost To Ranji Final, One Run At A Time

Kerala cricket's path towards future seems promising with strong systems in place and a rising generation of talents

- MANISHA V C S @Kochi

Just as the Malayalam movie '1983' portrayed, there was a time when a generation in Kerala got hooked to the magic of cricket. As Kapil Dev's India lifted the World Cup for the first time, the love for the game peaked here. In the years that followed, every yard, nook, and corner of the state saw amateur players taking to cricket, often with bats and stumps made of coconut fronds and with rubber balls.

That picture has now entirely vanished from Kerala. Instead, there are turf wickets, proper equipment, training facilities, and coaching systems in place where children from every corner of the state can gain expertise in the game. It is a slow but steady growth that has taken the state senior men's team to a position where the entire cricketing fraternity in the country is talking about Kerala -- a finalist in the premier domestic tournament, the Ranji Trophy.

Having first participated in the tournament as a state in 1957, Kerala had a tough time in the subsequent six decades. In the earlier format of the competition, the state had to contend with Indian cricket's powerhouses Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Hyderabad in the south zone, with only two teams qualifying for the knockout stages.

"In the '80s, our team could only aspire one thing... defeat one of these powerful teams at least once," said P Balachandran, former Kerala player and coach.