On a day when the captain and his immediate predecessor both scored centuries, Kerala took not only the first innings lead, but also total control of its Ranji Trophy Group C encounter against Jammu & Kashmir at the Sher-E-Kashmir Stadium.
The visiting side finished the third day at 485 for eight; it has a lead of 155 going into Sunday’s final day. Saturday’s highlight was the batting of skipper Sanju Samson (101, 171b, 16x4) and Sachin Baby (151, 310b, 21x4, 1x6). Their fourth-wicket stand of 177 has effectively shut Jammu out of the match.
Thanks to these hundreds, Kerala is in an excellent position to put pressure on the home batsmen. It may even declare at the overnight score.
“Yes, we might not bat at all on the final day, but will take a decision only on Sunday morning,” Kerala coach P. Balachandran told The Hindu . “We might bat for another half-hour, not more than that. We want our bowlers to have something like 80 overs in the Jammu second innings. There is no juice left on the wicket, but we have got nothing to lose, so we are going to try hard for an outright victory.”
He added things went according to the plan on day three, despite losing one of the overnight batsmen, Rohan Prem (69, 208b, 8x4, 1x6), shortly after resuming at the overnight 158 for two.
“Our plan was to bat cautiously in the early part of the day to ensure that we would get the first innings lead and then accelerate,” he said. “And that was what happened. It was superb batting by both Sachin and Sanju.”
For Jammu, medium-pacer Ram Dayal was the most successful bowlers, with figures of three for 79.
The scores: Jammu & Kashmir — 1st innings: 330.
Kerala — 1st innings: V.A. Jagadeesh run out 69, Akshay Kodoth c Manhas b Dayal 6, Rohan Prem c Manhas b Mudhasir 69, Sachin Baby c Raza b Rasool 151, Sanju V. Samson c Khajuria b Dayal 101, Raiphi Vincent Gomez c Nazir b Mudhasir 5, Nikhilesh Surendran c Bhat b Dayal 1, S. Monish c Raza b Rasool 27, C.O.T. Ahmed Farzeen (batting) 17, M.D. Nidheesh (batting) 11; Extras (b-8, lb-4, nb-15, w-1): 28; Total (for eight wkts. in 161 overs): 485.
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-138, 3-165, 4-342, 5-351, 6-360, 7-418, 8-467.
Jammu & Kashmir bowling: Ram Dayal 31-6-79-3, Mohammed Mudhasir 40-10-119-2, Umar Nazir 26-1-81-0, Parvez Rasool 33-7-92-2, Waseem Raza 17.3-0-62-0, Adil Reshi 8-2-19-0, Mithun Manhas 5.3-1-21-0.
