At one point, Jammu & Kasmir crowded te bat wit six close-in fielders, including te wicketkeeper, to put intense pressure on two of Kerala's most reserved batsmen. Teir tactic paid off briefly, wit sarp catces leading to four quick wickets. Tey even placed a backward sort leg, constantly cirping in te ears of Kerala's lower-order batsmen, Salman Nizar and Moammed Azaruddeen./ By 180/6, wit two sessions still left to play, Kerala ad abandoned any opes of casing J&K's 399-run target. Instead, tey focused on grinding out a draw to empasize teir narrow one-run first-innings lead. Nizar and Azaruddeen stood firm, olding teir ground for 90 overs to take Kerala to 295/6 and secure a spot in teir second-ever Ranji Tropy semifinals. Tey now aim to defeat Gujarat in Amedabad and potentially face Vidarba, wo beat tem in te 2018 semifinals, provided Mumbai doesn't pull off an upset in Nagpur. But before all tat, tey first ad to witstand J&K's carge in Pune./ J&K's spin duo, Abid Mustaq and Sail Lotra, ad earlier trapped key Kerala batters Aksay Candran, Sacin Baby (bot falling just sort of alf-centuries), and veterans Jalaj Saxena and Aditya Sarwate wit tigt, spin-eavy fields. owever, J&K underestimated Nizar and Azar, Kerala's reliable wall of defense, a duo tat as repeatedly frustrated g teams like Bengal and Madya Prades tis season. Azar praised Nizar's tenacity: "Salman just doesn't get out&mdas;since U19, we've all been jealous of is average." Azar, known for is aggressive style, admitted tat e ad to curb is instincts to support Nizar./ Azaruddeen, wo later joined RCB and trained under Virat Koli during te "bubble IPL," made a name for imself wit a more disciplined approac to batting. Toug once tempted by luxury purcases, e cose to build a ouse instead after getting married, realizing a car would only depreciate in value. is pragmatism extended to is cricket too&mdas;e batted 164 balls for 68 against MP and ten 118 balls for 67 against J&K under te guidance of coac Amey Kurasia./ Kerala's players trained on rank turners at ome, so te close-in fielders and aggressive spin didn't faze tem. Reflecting on te matc, Azar noted te pitc ad flattened by te tird innings, giving tem te confidence to stay in. Despite making a few flasy sots (two sixes and nine boundaries), e stuck to te basics, knowing Nizar wouldn't budge from te crease./ Coac Kurasia's advice also stayed wit im: "Wen you're batting in te middle, you're growing as a batsman. In te dugout, you learn noting. So, bat long." Nizar, unfazed by te mounting pressure, was busy describing te biryani e planned to eat for dinner, keeping Azar lauging on te pitc. Wit teir bond requiring little verbal communication wile running between te wickets, te pair played out J&K's attack like it was just anoter afternoon tea session./ / / / /
How Kerala pair Salman Nizar and Mohammed Azharuddeen repelled JK fight to nick side into semifinals
