It appears there is no such thing as a speedy answer to Kerala’s batting woes. The 4 adjustments, together with handing over debuts to a few kids, did little to arrest the acquainted collapse as Kerala put up one other underwhelming present with the bat and handed over the benefit to host Bihar within the Ranji Trophy cricket match on the Moin Ul Haq stadium right here on Friday.
Compelled to bat beneath overcast circumstances after a delayed begin of 90 minutes, Kerala’s prime order crumbled to Bihar’s opening bowlers Veer Pratap Singh (3/26) and Vipul Krishna (2/57) earlier than a rearguard century by Shreyas Gopal (113 batting) carried the customer to 203 for 9 at stumps.
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The brand new opening pair of captain Rohan Kunnammal and debutant Anand Krishnan lasted simply 4 overs when Vipul breached Rohan’s (5) defence. The ball darted round and dependable Sachin Child (1) and Vishnu Vinod (0) retreated early to the dressing room. Akshay Chandran, who changed Rohan Prem, rode his luck early however Anand fell to Veer for 9 as Kerala wobbled at 34 for 4 at lunch.
Shreyas was not averse to punishing the free balls and obtained into his stride by square-driving Veer for a boundary. Shreyas and Akshay Chandran added 50 runs for the fifth wicket to revive the innings. Nonetheless, leg spinner Himanshu Singh compelled Akshay to edge a catch to Piyush at brief leg to finish the partnership. Himanshu knocked out debutant Vishnu Raj’s leg stump to go away Kerala reeling at 102 for six.
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Then Shreyas and Jalaj Saxena took the assault to the Bihar bowlers and figured in a 61-run stand for the seventh wicket. It was the briefest of durations when Kerala batters in management over the bowling.
Nonetheless, Jalaj’s vast slog of Vipul noticed Pratap take a tumbling catch at deep sq. leg to finish the stand. Himanshu dismissed Basil Thampi for a golden duck as Kerala slumped to 164 for eight. Nidheesh resisted for some time earlier than Himashu trapped him leg earlier than.
Shreyas, within the firm of debutant Akhin Sattar, then annoyed Bihar so as to add 27 runs for the final wicket. Shreyas farmed the strike and struck a flurry of boundaries to succeed in the landmark and completed the day with a flourish tonking Himanshu over mid-wicket for a six.