After having dominated three-quarters of its contest against Andhra, Kerala unravelled dramatically to go down by seven runs in a low-scoring Group B Vijay Hazare Trophy clash here on Wednesday.
Chasing 191, Kerala was unruffled until the 42nd over, when the rot began. Captain Sachin Baby — 57 (84b, 6x4) — departed in a vain attempt to smash leg-spinner Karn Sharma out of the park, before his team lost six more wickets for 13 runs to be bowled out for 183.
Besides Karn, part-time spinner Ricky Bhui caused panic among Kerala’s batting line-up with his wicket-to-wicket bowling. The presence of close-in fielders added to the catatonia.
Much of the damage was done by the time B. Ayyappa was re-introduced into the attack; the pacer got No. 9 Basil Thampi and No. 10 S. Midhun out bowled in the 49th over.
Middle-order Salman Nizar deposited Bhui straight to the deep midwicket fielder’s throat off the first delivery of the final over to end the suffering.
The turnaround looked improbable when Baby and V.A. Jagadeesh were going along smoothly on a pitch that was refusing to take turn in the afternoon.
The two added 80 in 18.4 overs, a period when Andhra looked insipid as a bowling unit.
The early momentum was also provided by the openers K.B. Arun Karthick (46, 67b, 5x4, 1x6) and Jalaj Saxena (32, 39b, 5x4), who stitched an enterprising partnership of 72. The top-order continued to hold firm for most of the innings as the pitch was benign.
Noted Baby: “If you applied yourself on this wicket, you could get runs.”
That didn’t seem to be the case in the morning, however. Fast bowlers Thampi and Sandeep Warrier had reduced Andhra to 16 for two in the fifth over. Andhra’s top-order attempted a revival but then the spinners Akshay Chandran and Midhun took over, casting a spell on the batsmen with their accurate and deceptive bowling.
B. Sumanth (79, 104b, 5x4, 2x6) and D.B. Ravi Teja (44, 54b, 3x4, 1x6) put on 96 for the fifth wicket to give some respectability to the eventual total, which proved just enough.
In another Group ‘B’ contest, Hyderabad defeated Madhya Pradesh by seven wickets. Mohammed Siraj (three wickets), and batsmen Tanmay Agarwal (83, 109b, 5x4) and K. Rohit Rayudu (78, 102b, 6x4, 2x6), were the chief architects of Hyderabad’s comprehensive win.
The scores:
Andhra 190 in 49 overs (B. Sumanth 79, D.B. Ravi Teja 44, Midhun three for 56) bt Kerala 183 in 49.1 overs (Sachin Baby 57, Jalaj Saxena 46, Karn Sharma three for 37).
Hyderabad 235 for three in 47.4 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 53, K. Rohit Rayudu 78) bt Madhya Pradesh 231 in 48.2 overs (Rajat Patidar 49, Saransh Jain 45, Venkatesh Iyer 44, Md. Siraj three for 43).
