The Kerala cricket team is a domestic cricket team based in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. It is in the Elite Group of the Ranji Trophy, the premier

first class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

tournament in India. It was known as

Travancore-Cochin cricket team The Travancore-Cochin cricket team represented the Indian state of Travancore-Cochin in the Ranji Trophy from 1951–52 to 1956–57. After the state was reorganised and expanded to form the new state of Kerala in 1956, the Travancore-Cochin tea ...

until 1957/58. Kerala has produced two Indian Test cricketers,

Tinu Yohannan Tinu Yohannan (born 18 February 1979) is a former Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed fast medium bowler. He played first class cricket for Kerala and was the first Kerala player to play Test and one day cricket for India. He is the curre ...

and

S. Sreesanth Shanthakumaran Nair Sreesanth (, born 6 February 1983) is an Indian former cricketer and film actor who played all forms of the game. He is a right-arm fast-medium-pace bowler and a right-handed tail-ender batsman. In first class cricket, he p ...

. Sanju Samson has represented India in T20Is and ODIs, while

Basil Thampi Basil Thampi (born 11 September 1993) is an Indian cricketer who represents Kerala in the domestic cricket. He is a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium pacer. He made his IPL debut for Gujarat Lions in the 2017 Indian Premier League ...

has a national call-up to his name. The team also lined up ex-Indian International player

Sadagoppan Ramesh Sadagoppan Ramesh (சடகோபன் ரமேஷ்) (born 13 October 1975) is a former Indian cricketer and actor who appeared in Tamil movies. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler. In September 1999, he became t ...

for two years from 2005 to 2007.

Robin Uthappa Robin Venu Uthappa (; born 11 November 1985) is a former Indian cricketer, who last played for Kerala in domestic cricket & Chennai Super Kings in IPL. Robin has represented team India in ODIs and T20Is. Uthappa made his One Day International ...

, a former Indian International player currently plays for Kerala. Kerala has also produced

Krishna Chandran Krishna Chandran (born 24 August 1984), also known as Krishna Chandran Karate, is an Indian-born cricketer who played for the United Arab Emirates national cricket team. He has played in twelve One Day International matches, including five matche ...

, who plays at International level for

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

Playing history

Kerala began competing in the 1957–58 Ranji Trophy, succeeding the

after the states were reorganized. It competed in the South Zone, against Madras/Tamil Nadu, Mysore/Karnataka,

Andhra Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

and

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

. In 1957-58 Kerala lost all four matches, three of them by an innings. In the 1959–60 season, Kerala's

Balan Pandit Balan Pandit (16 June 1926 – 5 June 2013) was an Indian cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Kathiawar, Kerala and Travancore-Cochin between 1946 and 1970. His score of 262 not out against Andhra Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP ...

(262 *) and George Abraham (198) put up a 410 runs partnership in the fourth wicket, which is the highest in Indian first-class cricket. Pandit's score remained the highest for Kerala in FC format until the 2007-08 season. At the end of the 2016–17 season, Kerala had played 302 first-class matches, and won 46, lost 140 and drawn 116. In

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numb ...

Kerala had played 120 matches, with 47 wins, 71 losses and two ties. Kerala reached the pre-quarterfinal of Ranji Trophy in the 1994–95 season when they progressed as South zone winners under the captaincy of

KN Ananthapadmanabhan Karumanaseri Narayanaiyer Ananthapadmanabhan (born 8 September 1969) is an Indian former first-class cricketer from the state of Kerala. He played for the India "A" national team in international cricket and for South Zone and Kerala in Indian ...

. They were qualified for the Super League after emerging as the south zone winners in 1996-97 under leadership of Feroze V Rasheed. Kerala reached plate final in 2002-03 and semifinal in 2007–08. In November 2017, they progressed to the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy for the first time, when they finished second in

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

of the 2017–18 tournament. They put on their best show in Ranji Trophy history when they progressed to the semifinals in 2018–19 season after beating former champions Gujarat in quarters.

Governing body

The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) is the governing body for the Kerala cricket team. It was founded on 1951 and is affiliated to the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

(BCCI) and the Kerala State Sports Authority (KSSA). It is the parent body of the 14 district associations in Kerala.

Current squad

Players with International caps are listed in bold. ''Updated as on 26 November 2022''

Support Staff

Stadiums

International stadiums

Greenfield International Stadium Kerala 2

Active Stadium

Former Stadiums

Other stadiums

Famous players

Players from Kerala who have played Test cricket for India, along with year of Test debut: *

(2001) * Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (2006) Players from Kerala who have played ODI but not Test cricket for India, along with year of ODI debut: * Sanju Samson (2021) Cricketers who played a large portion of their career for Kerala, and played T20I for India, along with year of T20I debut : *

Sandeep Warrier Sandeep Warrier (born 4 April 1991) is an Indian international cricketer. He made his international debut for the Indian cricket team in July 2021 against Sri Lanka. He is a right-arm medium-fast bowler who has played for Kerala and currently pl ...

(2021) Cricketers from other state teams who also played for Kerala, and played international cricket for India, along with year of international debut: * Sujith Somasunder (1996) *

(1999) *

(2006) Prominent cricketers at the domestic level: * Ajay Varma * Ajay Kudua * Antony Sebastian * B. Ramprakash *

* Feroze V Rasheed * Kelappan Thampuran *

K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan Karumanaseri Narayanaiyer Ananthapadmanabhan (born 8 September 1969) is an Indian former first-class cricketer from the state of Kerala. He played for the India "A" national team in international cricket and for South Zone and Kerala in Indian ...

* K Jayaraman *

Padmanabhan Prasanth Padmanabhan Prasanth (born 22 May 1985) is an Indian First-class cricketer who plays for Kerala cricket team, Kerala. Biography Prasanth was born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. He spent his entire career playing first class cricket for ...

Prasanth Parameswaran Prasanth Parameswaran (born 30 May 1985) is an Indian cricketer. He is a left-arm, medium pace bowler and a right-handed batsman. In first class cricket, he plays for Kerala and in the Indian Premier League. He used to play for Kochi Tuskers ...

(Represented

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

) *

Raiphi Gomez Raiphi Vincent Gomez (born 16 October 1985) is an Indian cricketer who played for Kerala and Puducherry in domestic cricket. He is an all-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right arm medium-fast. He was bought by Rajasthan Royals ahead of t ...

* Rohan Prem * Sachin Baby *

Sony Cheruvathur Sony Kuriakose Cheruvathur (born 26 August 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who played for Kerala in domestic cricket. He is an all-rounder who plays as a right-handed middle order batsman and right arm medium-fast bowler. He made his List ...

* Sreekumar Nair * Sunil Oasis * Thomas Mathew *

VA Jagadeesh Vasudevanpillai Arundhathiamma Jagadeesh (born 25 May 1983) is a former Indian cricketer who represented Kerala cricket team, Kerala in domestic cricket. In August 2013, he was named to the India A cricket team, India A squad to play two unoffic ...

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Kerala
at CricketArchive
Official website
{{Kerala Sports Indian first-class cricket teams Cricket in Kerala 1950 establishments in India Sports clubs established in 1950