Tamil Nadu took on Kerala in their final 2000-01 Ranji Trophy South Zone league tie at Kochi's Nehru Stadium. Six seasons earlier WD Balaji Rao had made his Ranji debut against the same team in Palakkad. It was not a particularly auspicious start for him as Tamil Nadu went down by 123 runs, still the only one of 45 encounters between the two neighbours which Kerala has won.

Much water had flown beneath the bridge in the intervening years and Balaji Rao, after trying out his wares with Railways, was back in the Tamil Nadu team. The visitors were playing a three man spin attack comprising Rao, Aashish Kapoor and Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan. Winning the toss and electing to bat, Kerala was bundled out for 206 on the opening day.

Balaji Rao slit open the top of the Kerala innings, removing both openers in the space of 18 balls. Varun Girilal was the first to depart, caught by skipper Robin Singh at second slip. When MP Sorab's stumps were rattled by the legspinner, Kerala had slipped to 49/2. The pace duo of Mahesh and Kumaran then took charge of the proceedings, and three hours later, the hosts were struggling at 157/9. A stubborn last wicket stand of 49 was ended when Balaji Rao had Kamaruddin caught by Robin at first slip for his third wicket. He finished with 3/55 from 20.5 overs.

Tamil Nadu progressed to 17/0 before the day was out but to their chagrin the entire second day was washed out. One would have thought the visitors would have shown some enterprise on the third day but instead they crawled to 204/4 off a full day's play. Tamil Nadu declared on 251/9 just before lunch on the final morning.

Kerala lost an early wicket but Sorab and Menon steadied the ship with a 53 run second wicket stand. Balaji Rao who had come on second change dealt a double blow in successive overs. Menon was caught at point by substitute Vasant Saravanan and newcomer Sreekumar Nair gobbled up by Hemanth Kumar at forward short leg. Sorab and Ajay Kudua put their heads down in a 90 run association before, in a similar turn of events, Balaji Rao once more struck twice in two overs. Kudua was caught behind by keeper Reuben Paul and Kamaruddin by Robin at first slip.

Kerala closed out the match at a distinctly uncomfortable 167/6. Had it not been for the earlier rain interruption, Balaji Rao's wiles might well have spun Tamil Nadu to an outright victory. As it was, he finished with a match haul of 7/115 to raise his tally in the zonal league to 19 wickets, becoming the leading strike bowler for his team.