Dogged Karun Nair does his bit for Vidarbha's Mission Impossible

Before his famed 303 not out against England, Karun Nair had scored another triple-hundred.

It was the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy final at the Wankhede. Bowling first, Karnataka had skittled out Tamil Nadu for 134. But when Nair walked in, Karnataka were 16 for 3, which soon became 84 for 5. From there, Nair scored 328 - the highest individual score in a Ranji Trophy final - to help his side win their second successive title.

Nine years later, Nair was once again at the Wankhede, playing yet another Ranji Trophy final. This time as a professional for Vidarbha. His team was in an even worse situation. Chasing an unprecedented 538 against Mumbai, they were 64 for 2, having lost their openers in a space of three balls.

To keep alive the little hope they had, Vidarbha needed Nair to repeat his 2014-15 heroics.

Nair had moved to Vidarbha after Karnataka dropped him across formats for the 2022-23 season. But before joining them, he had a short stint with Northamptonshire in the County Championship. In his three innings there, he scored 78, 150 and 21.

"I didn't play for a year, so that was quite hard - to sit at home and watch others play," Nair said on Wednesday. "But that [runs in county cricket] gave me a lot of confidence before coming here. If I could score runs at The Oval, score a 150 when the conditions are much tougher, I could score runs anywhere."

Nair carried that confidence and form into the Ranji Trophy as well. Coming into the final, he was the leading run-scorer for his team, with a tally of 616 at an average of 41.07. But now, on the fourth day of the final, he had his work cut out.

Offspinner Tanush Kotian had just bowled Dhruv Shorey with a delivery that turned square. Nair was welcomed in the same manner. Only that Kotian got his line slightly wrong this time and the ball thudded into the batter's pad.

Soon after, Kotian bowled a similar-looking delivery around off stump. Nair played for the turn only for the ball to hold its line and take the outside edge. But wicketkeeper Hardik Tamore grassed the chance.

To counter Kotian, Nair tried the reverse sweep, but it did not help. He looked more comfortable against the left-arm spin of Shams Mulani. But the runs were hard to come by. After facing 42 balls, Nair had scored only 9.

At one stage it looked like even if Vidarbha batted for two full days, they might not reach their target. Having conceded a first-innings lead, a draw was not an option for them, but Nair felt that was the best approach.

"I could have taken many, many chances but at the cost of what? It was not an easy wicket to score runs on. So the thought process was to not give them any chances. To keep batting and score the runs that they give you rather than trying to convert things. To bat as long as possible and you never know."

That's exactly what Nair did.

When Mulani's spell ended, Ajinkya Rahane brought on Musheer Khan, another left-arm spinner. He troubled Nair even more than the other two spinners.

In his second over, Musheer got one to turn past Nair's outside edge and hit the back leg. Nair was saved by the turn.

After lunch, Musheer beat his inside edge and hit the front pad. This time the umpire raised his finger. But Nair got the decision reversed on review, as Hawk-Eye showed the ball would have missed leg stump.

Musheer then decided to go over the wicket. Turning the ball from the rough around leg stump, he beat Nair's outside edge repeatedly but could not dislodge him.

When Nair reached his fifty, off 174 balls, he hardly celebrated. After all, it was not even 10% of Vidarbha's target.

Akshay Wadkar was far more positive at the other end, which meant Vidarbha at last made some perceivable progress.

With the pitch slowing down and no reverse swing on offer, Mumbai took the second new ball as soon as it was available. Dhawal Kulkarni bowled a couple of overs with it but with nothing happening, Rahane turned to Tushar Deshpande for what the latter described as "the short-ball therapy".

All six deliveries of Deshpande's over were short. Nair ducked under or swayed away the first four times. On the fifth occasion, Deshpande erred down the leg side and Nair pulled it fine for four.

Nair and Wadkar had added 90 for the fifth wicket. But with 20-odd minutes left in the day's play, Musheer finally got his man when Nair edged one to the keeper.

Nair's 74 contained only three fours. But his innings was more about the shots he did not play, the restraint he showed. During his 220-ball vigil, he did not score a single run in the V.

When asked about it, Nair said: "The ball was turning from very close to the bat, so it was not easy. I could have tried but it could have gone either way. So I was just waiting for something really full or short to score runs."

At stumps, Wadkar was unbeaten on 56. But Vidarbha are not even halfway to their target. They need another 290 with five wickets in hand. Nair was asked if they still had hope.

"We need to be realistic that it's a tough task," he said. "But if I can say anything about this team, it's that they never give up. You never know what can happen. I would have loved to be batting overnight and then I could have given you a better answer."

Vidarbha, too, would have loved that.