A good toss to lose, as it turned out. Goa, put in to bat in seemingly favourable conditions for seam and swing bowling, ended the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group ‘C’ match against Kerala at 313 for six at the Wayanad Cricket Stadium at Krishnagiri here on Sunday.
It was a satisfying day for the visiting side — it survived a mid-afternoon scare when it slumped from 117 for one to 168 for five, but a 108-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Darshan Misal (67 batting) and Saurabh Bandekar (60) ensured that there was no embarrassing collapse. With the wicket looking increasingly good for batting, Goa must be hoping to put on a formidable score in the first innings.
As for the host, its opening bowlers had begun well and it almost looked as if it was a good toss to win, when N. Niyas had Swapnil Asnodkar caught in the slips by Sanju Samson in the seventh over. Kerala celebrated, a bit too prematurely as it turned out, with replays showing it was a no-ball. It was also a sign of things to follow, as the host went on to bowl as many as 20 no-balls during the day.
Swapnil thus stayed on and added 92 for the first wicket with Amogh Desai, who stroked his way handsomely to 75 (162 min, 114b, 11x4). “It was disappointing to get out at that stage, as the wicket was easing out for batting after the first hour or so,” he said.
It was his wicket that triggered the flurry of dismissals in the afternoon, as debutant Basil Thampi picked up three wickets. The young pace bowler made a promising debut, working up good pace and getting nice lift. He was expensive, yes. But, he looks good.
“He bowled well,” said his coach Sairaj Bahutule. “We gave too many easy runs to Goa, but when you have two debutants — Basil and medium-pacer Abhishek Mohan — bowling, it is, perhaps, not that surprising.”
The scores: Goa — 1st Innings: Amogh Desai c Amit b Niyas 75, Swapnil Asnodkar lbw b Niyas 14, Sagun Kamat lbw b Basil 41, Rohit Asnodkar lbw b Basil 4, Keenan Vaz lbw b Basil 9, Darshan Marshall (batting 67), Saurabh Bandekar c Nikhilesh b Prasanth 60, Amit Yadav (batting) 8; Extras (b-12, lb-2, nb-20, w-1): 35; Total (for six wickets in 89 overs): 313.
Fall of wickets: 1-92, 2-117, 3-134, 4-161, 5-168, 6-276.
Kerala bowling: N. Niyas 25-7-60-2, Basil Thampi 21-1-97-3, Abhishek Mohan 13-3-42-0, P. Prasanth 17-4-53-1, Rohan Prem 11-1-36-0, Amit Verma 2-0-11-0.
