How Kerala pair Salman Nizar and Mohammed Azharuddeen repelled J&K fight to nick side into semifinals | Cricket News

At one point, Jammu & Kashmir deployed six close-in fielders including the wicket keeper to crowd, converge on and cackle off two of Kerala’s quietest batsmen, into submission, while snapping sharp catches that brought four quick wickets. There was even a backward short leg, lingering in the batsman’s peripheral vicinity, and hissing away sweet inanities into the ears of Kerala’s flank defenders, Nos 7 and 8, Salman Nizar and Mohammed AzharuddeenAt 180/6, with a good part of two sessions left, Kerala were not even pretending to go for the 399 target J&K set them, clear that they would rub in the one-run first innings lead into the opponents’ faces the whole day. But defending 90 overs for a draw is an art. Nizar and Azhar did just that, to put Kerala into their second-ever Ranji semifinals. They would like nothing more than to beat Gujarat at home in Ahmedabad and take a shot at, possibly, Vidarbha. who beat them in the 2018 semis, should Mumbai be tamed at Nagpur in the other last-four encounter. But first, J&K had to be quelled at Pune.
Akshay Chandran and Sachin Ba (both on 48 runs) and even the 35+ veterans Jalaj Saxena and Aditya Sarwate, had eventually perished to J&K’s cloying tactic of spin-induced claustrophobia with Abid Mushtaq and Sahil Lotra, snaring two each. What India’s northern-most crown state might not have known is that India’s southern-most citadel, had the underrated Nizar and Azhar who have been pulling off these acts of holding off the last lines of defence, for a decade. They revel in it – ask Bengal or MP this season, for five-wickets-down is when Kerala start coming into their own.
Story continues below this ad

“Salman just doesn’t get out and his batting average must be a million. Since U19, we have all been so jealous of him. And my habit is to play shots, so I had to majorly curb that instinct,” Azharuddeen said, after Kerala were taken to safety and finished at 295/6 with J&K unable to break through them.
Azhar, Kasar’gold’
While Nizar added 44 (162) to his first innings unbeaten 112, it was Azharuddeen who the Kerala tent literally serenaded from the tent with sing-song chants of ‘Kasargod’. The cricket-mad drict, Azhar, says “made” him, with absolute strangers who loved the sport buying him high quality CA bats from Dubai and leaving them at his club once word got around he was talented. Azhar pays back the obeisance playing with jersey No 14 – Kerala’s “14th drict”, he informs.
The cricket-nutty drict that speaks a variant of Malayalam, infused with Tulu and Kannadiga, borders Kumbla – Anil Kumble’s native town. The scenic hilly drict has a hyper-competitive drict league, but Azhar’s family really went the dance of cricket love. His eldest of seven brothers Kamaruddeen was a Md Azharuddin fan in 90s, so the newborn’s given name was swiftly changed from Ajmal to Azharuddeen. It was only in his teens that he googled and Youtubed the former India captain, and met him twice thereafter. Kerala also has a Sachin Ba, their captain.
But while cricket was taking off, and Kasargod doing everything to support the talent, Azharuddeen went to pieces after his mother passed away, making February a brutal month in his memories. “My father passed away when I was 15 and mother on February 2nd 2015, when I was 20. One of my brothers took me in, and Sanju Samson helped a lot.”Story continues below this ad
He would go on to get picked RCB, spend the ‘bubble IPL’ learning aggressive batting from Virat Kohli, and wise up. Malyalam press had reported a few years ago, how a Mercedes Benz was on his l of spendings once he made it big. “I could’ve afforded Benz when RCB picked me. But I decided to build a house instead, realising a luxury car can be a liability in a few years,” he says. “Plus I got married last year. My wife will be happy if I build a house for her,” he says.
This prudence extends to when he’s battling for draws too. Earlier against MP, he batted 164 balls for 68. Against J&K egged on coach Amey Khurasia to do it for his state, Kerala, he stayed put 118 balls for 67. “Back home we train on rank turners, so we were not scared of this silly point and short leg,” he would say of the 6-pack close-in.
“We had seen J&K bat in the third innings, and the wicket was complete paataa.” No demons – he declared, whling and laughing out there in the middle though he “made makes thrice.” “Oh, those two pull shots and that cover drive,” he would near-apologise for some pretty stylish shots, of which there were 9 boundaries and 2 sixes.
“I knew Salman wouldn’t get out, so I just had to control my shotmaking instinct,” he would say of proper 5-day batting. Coach Khurasia had told him a pretty simple thing that hit deep. “He said, ‘when you are batting in the middle, you are growing as a batsman. In the dugout you learn nothing. So, bat long.”
Story continues below this ad
J&K might’ve been hovering around them, but Salman Nizar was on a trip of his own. “He is just not bothered, let it be any situation, and he kept describing the biryani he would eat for dinner. He’s a big foodie. I kept laughing,” Azhar recalled, adding, their understanding is such that they rarely need to verbally call when running between wickets. Dinner menu fixed, they nibbled lightly on J&K bowling for high-tea.