After a short slip, Kerala dove home by seven wickets to beat Chhattisgarh to record their third Ranji Trophy victory here on Friday at KCA-St.Xavier’s Cricket Ground.
For a while, Kerala opener P. Rahul (66 not out) and Rohan Kunnummal (40) were at will against the hapless Chhattisgarh spinner as he looted 6 and 4, resulting in T20’s It looked like a match.
On the final day, the famously aggressive opening pitcher for the Kerala 126 chased for victory and from 63 balls he added 81 runs before sealing the contest in his first hour.
The hosts defeated Chhattisgarh after a slight slip in his seven wickets and here on Friday he scored his third lunge his trophy win at KCA-St.Xavier Cricket Ground.
The opener opened in a contrasting style, with Rahul taking on the spinner in a series of boundaries while Lohan played second fiddle.
However, Lohan quickly found the timing to fail in the first innings and played free. However, the hitter threw a wicket after hitting left spinner Ajay Mandal six times in a row. After seeing Rohan walk out for the third time, Ajay briefly drops his delivery, tripping wicketkeeper Hussein.
Chhattisgarh started the morning with Sumit Ruikar (1) short leg he had Sachin Baby he caught on Khare and on the next ball an off spinner he dropped his catch on a return provided by Akshay Chandran. There was a rare moment of success when Rahul duly finished his half-century, even as Akshay Chandran (10) fell as Kerala were two runs away from winning. Rahul swept his Ajay in pairs to complete a seven-wicket victory.
Kerala’s Tinu rohanan His coach was delighted with the win and praised his players for their character on good wickets. “This is a fresh start for us and we are pleased with the way the players have fought back in the match. Looking back, it made a big difference that he took seven wickets in the first session of the first day. I was. Mid-paced F.Fanoos and N.P.Basil are inexperienced and I think they bowled well. Jalaj Saxena was great and Vaisakh Chandran bowled well too. I’m sure I’ll miss Sanju in the next match. He has great influence both as a captain and as a batter. But it’s up to the players to seize the opportunity and perform,” he said.