Kerala cruises to eight-wicket win in opposition to Punjab

Captain Sachin Child’s half-century powered Kerala’s victory push in opposition to Punjab in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
| Photograph Credit score: NIRMAL HARINDRAN

 Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala overcame the vagaries of the wicket with intent and aggression to cruise to an eight-wicket win over Punjab within the Ranji Trophy cricket match on the KCA-St.Xavier’s School floor right here on Monday.

Chasing 158 for a win, the makeshift opening pair of Sachin Child and Rohan Kunnummal had been extremely aggressive of their strategy and threw the pitch out of the equation within the quest for victory. Maybe the Kerala openers took a cue from aggressive strategies which Prabhsimran Singh (51 off 49 balls) adopted throughout Punjab innings on the two-paced wicket that made batting a hazardous train for many of the batters.

 Rohan and Child attacked the bowling from the beginning and added 73 runs for the wicket in 13 overs which arrange the highway to victory. 

The second wicket stand of 75 between captain Sachin Child (56), who was the passive accomplice within the first wicket stand, and Baba Aparajith (39 not out) sealed the competition. 

Rohan took up the duty to defang the Punjab spinners early. He sashayed down the observe and smote Naman Dhir over long-on for a six to start the chase on a constructive be aware. He then sq. minimize Emanjot Singh fiercely for a boundary and deposited Mayank Markande’s first ball over long-on for a six. Rohan raced to 48 off 36 balls however missed out on an enormous rating as Mayank took a pointy return catch.

Nevertheless, Child and Aparajith overcame their nervous begins to play with confidence. Child was dismissed quickly after finishing his fifty however Salman Nizar pulled Brar for a pair to finish the win.

Earlier within the morning, Aparajith bowled with precision and management to bother the batters. Krish Bhagat (5) and Nehal Wadhera (12) fell cheaply as Punjab slumped to 50 for 5. However captain Prabhsimran Singh and Anmolpreet Singh took the aggressive path to take the struggle to the Kerala camp and added 71 runs for the sixth wicket.

Prabhsimran hit a flurry of boundaries off Aparajith and Akshay Chandran to shortly wrest the momentum. Azharudden flunked a stumping probability off Akshay however Prabhsimaran didn’t mood his aggression and raced to his fifty. Jalaj took the important thing scalp of Prabhsimran who feathered a catch to Vathsal Govind at foolish level.

Prabhsmiran’s dismissal opened the floodgates as Punjab misplaced its final 5 wickets for simply 21 runs. Kerala’s spin trio of Aparajith (4/35), Aditya Sarwate (4/43) and Jalaj Saxena (2/40) shared the spoils as Punjab was bowled out within the prolonged first session.

Scores – Punjab- 1st innings: 194.

Kerala-1st innings: 179.

Punjab-2nd innings:Abhay Choudhary c Vinod b Aparajith 12, Naman Dhir c Salman b Sarwate 7, Siddharth Kaul c Vinod b Sarwate 0, Krish Bhagat c Azharuddeen b Aparajith 5, Anmolpreet Singh c Salman b Jalaj 37, Nehal Wadhera b Aparajith 12, Prabhsimran Singh c Vathsal b Jalaj 51, Mayank Markande b Sarwate 9, Ramandeep Singh c Salman b Sarwate 0, Gurnoor Brar c Rohan b Aparajith 1, Emanjot Singh Chahal not out 0. Extras (b-7, lb-1): 8. Whole (all out in 55.1 overs): 142.

Fall-of-wickets: 1-19, 2-19, 3-19, 4-32, 5-50, 6-121, 7-140, 8-140, 9-142.

Kerala bowling: Sarwate 19-6-43-4, Jalaj 18.1-2-40-2, Aparajith 15-5-35-4, Akshay 3-0-16-0.

Kerala-2nd innings: Sachin Child c Anmolpreet b Emanjot 56, Rohan Kunnummal c & b Mayank 48, Baba Aparajith not out 39, Salman Nizar not out 7. Extras (b-7, 1b-1): 8. Whole (for 2 wkts. in 36 overs): 158.

Fall of wickets: 1-73, 2-148

Punjab bowling: Emanjot Singh 14-2-53-1, Kaul 2-0-13-0, Dhir 5-1-22-0, Mayank 8-0-29-1, Brar 5-0-22-0, Wadhera 2-0-11-0.