The script that emerged by the end of the third day stayed on course as Kerala cantered home to an emphatic nine-wicket victory over Andhra in the Ranji Trophy Elite Pool B match at the St. Xavier’s Stadium, Thumba, on Thursday.
Having almost run through the rival second innings, thanks to the superb effort of Jalaj Saxena, the home team required only 5.3 more overs to skittle Andhra out for 115 and set a target of 42 runs for an outright win.
The two wickets that fell this morning after Andhra resumed at 102 for eight were shared by K.C. Akshay who got rid of Ricky Bhui (13), caught by Basil Thampi at mid-wicket, and Jalaj who had last man P. Vijay Kumar stumped by Sanju Samson for nought.
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Personal best
Jalaj, with his haul of eight for 45, also overhauled his previous best of 8 for 58 (Madhya Pradesh v Railways) in an innings. Overall, the 31-year-old, who also hit a fine century in the Kerala first innings, had match figures of nine for 99.
The attention, as Kerala started its chase, centred on whether it would be successful in gaining the bonus point. But, that did not happen as K.B. Arun Karthick (16) was bowled by G. Manish before Jalaj, in the company of Rohan Prem, quite fittingly closed out the encounter in the last ball of the 13th over with a brilliantly-timed cover drive.
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Kerala coach, Dav Whatmore, was all praise for the valiant effort of Jalaj, saying the team was lucky to have the Indore-born as a member of the side. “We just had one blip on the morning of the third day when the team lost five wickets for almost nothing. Otherwise, we were the better side on all other sessions of play,” he said.
A beaming skipper Sachin Baby had this to say on Jalaj’s match-winning effort: “Class. I am also happy that the fielders too came up with their best to help him all through his wonderful spell.”
Cash award
The Kerala Cricket Association was quick to announce a special cash award of ₹1 lakh to Jalaj, hailing his effort as extraordinary.
Kerala, with the six points that it gained for this match, now has a tally of seven points from two matches and will next play Bengal in Kolkata from Nov. 20.
C.V. Vinod Kumar will join the original 15-member squad for this match. Andhra has three points from two matches.
The scores:
Andhra — 1st innings: 254.
Kerala — 1st innings: 328.
Andhra — 2nd innings: Ashwin Hebbar c Salman b Jalaj 11, D.B. Prashanth Kumar lbw b Jalaj 10, D.B. Ravi Teja c Salman b Jalaj 17, B. Sumanth st Sanju b Akshay 0, Karn Sharma c Thampi b Jalaj 2, Siva Charan Singh c Sanju b Jalaj 19, Shoaib Mohammed Khan c Karthick b Jalaj 4, Ricky Bhui c Thampi b Akshay 32, G. Manish c Salman b Jalaj 2, B. Ayyappa (not out) 10, P. Vijay Kumar c Sanju b Jalaj 0; Extras (b-6, lb-2): 8; Total (in 51.3 overs): 115.
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-26, 3-29, 4-34, 5-51, 6-61, 7-84, 8-90, 9-108.
Kerala bowling: Warrier 5-2-7-0, Thampi 4-0-15-0, Jalaj 21.3-2-45-8, Akshay 17-2-36-2, Chandran 4-2-4-0.
Kerala — 2nd innings: K.B. Arun Karthick b Manish 16, Jalaj Saxena (not out) 19, Rohan Prem (not out) 8; Total (for one wkt. in 13 overs): 43.
Fall of wicket: 1-25.
Andhra bowling: Shoaib 5-0-18-0, Manish 6-1-24-1, Prashanth 2-1-1-0.