Iqbal Abdulla’s second Ranji century (157 batting, 214b, 14x4, 6x6) was like adding insult to injury for the Hyderabad team, which put up a lacklustre display, as Kerala finished the second day at a commanding 506 for nine in their Ranji Trophy Group C match at the KIIT Stadium here on Friday.
The pacers were erratic in the morning, giving away easy boundaries, as the overnight pair of Sachin Baby and Jalaj Saxena put on a 147-run stand for fifth wicket which ended in the 12th over of the morning when Jalaj (79, 130b, 13x4) failed to check his intended drive, off pacer Md. Siraj, and ended up giving a simple catch to the mid-off fielder. Soon, Robert Fernandez was trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan to leave Kerala at 272 for six.
It was the kind of opening Hyderabad was looking for to come back into the game. But, Sachin was patience personified as he compiled a neat 80 (209b, 8x4) before getting out to Mehdi, 15 minutes before lunch.
Missed chancesHyderabad’s woes continued after the break as the fielders were not equal to the task in backing their struggling bowlers on a pitch where half-chances had to be grabbed. And, the team badly missed an off-spinner against a line-up which had quite a few left-handers.
That was the phase when the southpaw Iqbal Abdulla displayed his batting prowess with some lusty blows, treating Mehdi Hasan and leggie Akash Bhandari with contempt. He was audacious enough to walk down frequently and drive the pace trio of Siraj, Ravi Kiran and Chama Milind with ease.
Iqbal was twice lucky — on 48 when Ravi Kiran failed to latch on to a skier near the fence off Akash Bhandari and on 97 when wicketkeeper Sumanth failed to react in time to effect a stumping off Mehdi. Even K. Monish was dropped by Sumanth off Chama Milind when he was on 4.
Abdulla and Monish went on to pile on the agony for Hyderabad with a 141-run stand for the eighth wicket which effectively left Hyderabad with only one hope — of taking the lead now with two days to go.
The scores:
Kerala — 1st innings: V.A. Jagadeesh c Sumanth b Chama Milind 5, Bhavin Thakkar b Akash Bhandari 38, Rohan Prem st Sumanth b Mehdi Hasan 41, Sanju Samson b Ravi Kiran 15, Sachin Baby lbw b Mehdi Hasan 80, Jalaj Saxena c Ravi b Md. Siraj 79, Robert Fernandez lbw b Mehdi 12, Iqbal Abdulla (batting) 157, Kiran Kareparambil b Ravi Kiran 40, Basil Thambi run out 8, Sandeep Warrier (batting) 1; Extras: (nb-4, w-1, b-17, lb-8): 30; Total (for nine wkts. in 180 overs): 506.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-80, 3-107, 4-109, 5-256, 6-273, 7-312, 8-453, 9-486.
Hyderabad bowling: Ravi Kiran 24-9-58-2, Chama Milind 27-7-75-1, Md Siraj 30-10-77-1, Mehdi Hasan 54-18-134-3, Akash Bhandari 31-8-102-1, B. Sandeep 7-3-18-0, S. Badrinath 7-0-17-0.
