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Karun Nair made the most of a reprieve to pile up an unbeaten 132 and power Vidarbha to a position of command with an overall lead of 286 runs at stumps on Day Four of their Ranji Trophy final in Vidarbha on Saturday.
Nair's fourth century of the Ranji Trophy season -- and ninth overall including the five tons in Vijay Hazare Trophy -- gave Vidarbha the bragging rights and also put one hand on the Ranji Trophy with a third title win in horizon.
Vidarbha have the summit clash of the 90th Ranji Trophy completely in their control after Nair's 280-ball 132 not out helped them extend their first-innings lead of 37 runs to an overall 286 with only one day's play left in the contest.
A dropped regulation catch in the 19th over of the day and the innings ended up having a huge impact as Nair went on to score another quality hundred, one that defied Kerala's effort nearly all day long.
Danish Malewar also shone for the hosts Vidarbha at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha with the right-handed batter following up his first-innings' 153 with another resolute knock of 73.
But the biggest moment arrived in the 19th over when Kerala's Akshay Chandran spilled a regulation grab at the first slip off Eden Apple Tom when Nair was on 31.
Eden's back of length delivery bounced sharply off from the surface to take the edge towards first slip, where Chandran put down an easy catch.
Hitting 10 fours and two sixes, Nair piled up another quality knock which added to the laurels he has collected this season and the celebration on reaching the triple-figure mark was only fitting.
Nair took off his helmet and waved it to the dressing room along with his bat, then put both his gears down to signal ‘nine' with his fingers to show the number of centuries he has made this season across two competitions.
His strokeplay was serene as it has been throughout this season, with the senior batter getting his runs on both the sides of the wickets.
However, it wasn't all smooth sailing for Vidarbha who began the day with a 37-run lead in the second innings.
Veteran spinner Jalaj Saxena (1/76) struck as early as in the second over to clean up Parth Rekhade while Mohammed Azharuddeen's brilliance got Kerala the second breakthrough in the third.
Dhruv Shorey went chasing one outside the off which kept shaping away from him and despite the deflection off the edge, the ball kept moving away.
Azharuddeen flung to his right and collected the catch in front of the first slip which left Vidarbha in a spot of bother at 7/2 with overall lead of 44.
But this was when Nair and Malewar joined forces to defy Kerala once again, like they had done in the first innings. Keeping it simple yet not missing a chance to score, the two batters added 182 runs for the third wicket to take the contest away from Kerala.
Malewar fell for 73 off 162 balls with five fours before he was dismissed by Chandran caught off the outside edge by Sachin Baby at first slip.
Yash Rathod (24) put on a further 49 runs for the fourth wicket with Nair but was pinned in front of the wickets by Aditya Sarwate (1/55).