Who is Danish Malewar? The 21-year-old Vidarbha batsman who scored a century in the Ranji Trophy final
Who is Danish Malewar: In the final of Ranji Trophy 2024-25, 21-year-old Danish Malewar scored a strong century against Kerala, rescuing Vidarbha from early setbacks with his brilliant batting. On the first day of this big match being played at VCA Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur, he completed his century in 168 balls and pulled the team out of a difficult situation.
A strong innings played in difficult circumstances
In the final match, Vidarbha got the chance to bat first, but on the pitch covered with green grass, Kerala’s fast bowlers gave early blows and pushed the team to the backfoot. The team management changed the batting order and decided to send Parth Rekhade and Darshan Nalkande from the lower order up so that they could face the new ball. But this move backfired and within 12 overs, Vidarbha lost 3 wickets for 24 runs.
In such a difficult situation, Danish Malewar and experienced Karun Nair, who came to bat at number four, took charge. Both of them did not allow any further loss till lunch and took charge of the team by making a partnership of 100+ runs. After this, Malewar continued to bat in his natural style and completed his second century of this season. He hit a six off left-arm spinner Aditya Sarvate to reach 99 and completed his century by hitting a four on the very next ball.
Danish Malewar did wonders in his debut season itself
This is Danish Malewar’s first season in the Ranji Trophy, but he has impressed everyone with his brilliant performance. He made his first-class debut against Andhra in Nagpur and scored 61 runs, batting at number 3 in the second innings. After this, he played consecutive innings of 56, 42 and 59 runs. Then he scored his first first-class century by playing an innings of 115 runs against Gujarat in his home ground Nagpur.
Malewar’s performance improved even more in the knockout stage. He scored 75 runs against Tamil Nadu in the quarter-finals. He played crucial innings of 79 and 29 runs against Mumbai in the semi-finals. Now, again he laid a strong foundation for Vidarbha by scoring a brilliant century in the final.
Danish Malewar is fulfilling his father’s dream
Danish Malewar’s father Vishnu Malewar himself has been a big fan of cricket. He had decided even before marriage that if he had a son, he would make him a cricketer. However, being from a lower middle-class family, this journey was not easy.
Danish Malewar says, “Papa always wanted me to become a cricketer, so he put me in an academy at the age of seven. The financial condition of the family was not very good, but he never let my cricketing needs fall short. When I used to score runs in junior cricket, some people would gift me bats, pads and gloves. It was only after Under-19 that I started earning money from cricket.”
Danish Malewar is currently one of the rising stars of Vidarbha cricket. He has proved by performing brilliantly in his very first Ranji season that he has the ability to play for Team India in the future. His brilliant century in the final of Ranji Trophy 2025 can definitely prove to be historic for Vidarbha.
