Kerala fielder Salman Nizar at short-leg was hit on the head when Gujarat's Arjan Nagwaswalla played an aggressive shot during the Ranji Trophy semi-final on Friday (Feb 21). Nizar didn't know where the ball went as he looked around his teammates celebrating - a strange reaction under normal circumstances. The ball had bounced off his head to Kerala skipper Sachin Baby who caught it in the slips.

Advertisment

Nagwaswalla, Gujarat's last wicket of the innings, was out and his team bowled was bowled out for 455 - two runs short of Kerala's first innings total of 457. The celebration by Kerala fielders was because the two-run lead meant they virtually are in the Ranji Trophy final of the season. Have a look at the dramatic moment below:

Advertisment

The fifth and final morning of the match had started with Gujarat, at 429/7, needing 28 runs short of Kerala's total and they needed one extra run to gain the first innings lead advantage.

Also Read: Champions Trophy, IND vs BAN: India batter Virat Kohli fails with bat but still creates a record

Kerala spinner Aditya Sarwate picked all three wickets. The first was Jaymeet Patel - the batter, unbeaten on 74 at the end of day 4, was probably the biggest hurdle before Kerala. Sarwate, however, got him out only after the batter was able to add five runs to his overnight score.

Advertisment

Next to go was Siddharth Desai after Gujarat added 10 more runs to the total post Patel's dismissal. With only 12 runs required to get the lead, Priyajitsing Jadeja played 30 balls for his three runs and gave enough support to Nagwaswalla but it wasn't enough in the end.

Kerala will now be playing its first Ranji Trophy final 68 years after it started featuring in India's premier domestic red-ball tournament. They will face the winner of the second semi-final where Vidarbha are on the brink of beating Mumbai.