The wicket certainly isn’t the fastest the PCA Stadium has seen for some time. But, Siddharth Kaul, with significant help from the Kerala batsmen, ensured the toss his captain Mandeep Singh won wasn’t wasted at all.
The seamer’s second six-wicket haul of the season not merely helped Punjab take the honours on day one, but a firm grip of the Ranji Trophy Group B match as well.
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After bowling Kerala out for just 121, the hosts managed to take a first-innings lead of 14, with eight wickets still intact, before stumps were drawn on an extremely cold Sunday.
That is as good a position as any team can hope to reach on the opening day of a match.
With opener Jiwanjot Singh (67 batting) and Mandeep (41 batting) looking in good touch, the home team must already be dreaming of forcing what would be only its second win.
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As for Kerala, some of its batsmen might have nightmares about their dismissals.
It had started rather well, though, with openers P. Rahul and Arun Karthik stroking the ball well as they put on 38 runs inside 13 overs. But Kaul, who changed ends after a two-over spell, trapped Rahul lbw to end Kerala’s promising beginning.
In the very next over, Karthik also fell in similar fashion to Baltej Singh. Immediately, it was another over and another lbw, as Mohammed Azharuddeen began his long way back.
Ball of the day
Sanju Samson, Kerala’s most accomplished batsman, didn’t last long either, but he got the ball of the day from Kaul. It swung in massively to remove the off bail after the batsman had decided to leave it alone.
Kerala still had some hopes of a decent first innings score, until Jalaj Saxena, who has sort of turned himself into the Virat Kohli of the team, slashed Kaul straight to Yuvraj Singh at backward point. The horror story continued till lunch arrived at 88 for seven.
After the break, Vishnu Vinod played sensibly to top score with 35, which ensured his side would at least reach three figures. He became the last victim for Kaul, who took six for 55 from 15 overs.
“The wicket has slowed down, but I thought all of us bowled well,” Kaul said. “And it felt particularly nice to dismiss a top batsman like Sanju with a ball like that.”
The scores:
Kerala – 1st innings: P. Rahul lbw b Kaul 20, Arun Karthik lbw b Baltej 21, Mohammed Azharuddeen lbw b Kaul 8, Sanju Samson b Kaul 14, Sachin Baby c Anmolpreet b Gony 2, Jalaj Saxena c Yuvraj b Kaul 11, Vishnu Vinod c Gill b Kaul 35, Sijomon Joseph c Gill b Markande 1, Basil Thampi lbw b Markande 0, M.D. Nidheesh lbw b Kaul 6, Sandeep Warrier (not out) 1; Extras (lb-1, nb-1): 2. Total (in 37 overs): 121.
Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-46, 3-54, 4-65, 5-71, 6-81, 7-88, 8-88, 9-116.
Punjab bowling: Manpreet Gony 9-1-25-1, Siddharth Kaul 15-0-55-6, Baltej Singh 9-3-26-1, Mayank Markande 4-1-14-2.
Punjab – 1st innings: Jiwanjot Singh (batting) 67, Shubman Gill b Thampi 24, Anmolpreet Singh b Thampi 0, Mandeep Singh (batting) 41; Extras (lb-2, nb-1): 3. Total (for two wkts. in 40 overs): 135.
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-30.
Kerala bowling: Sandeep Warrier 12-0-56-0, Basil Thampi 10-2-23-2, M.D. Nidheesh 13-4-36-0, Sijomon Joseph 4-1-16-0, Jalaj Saxena 1-0-2-0.