Ranji Trophy: Chhattisgarh thwarts Kerala after Sachin Baby’s blitz

Kerala desperately tried to flog a lifeless match to life by scoring rapidly within the first session and setting a goal for Chhattisgarh to chase. However, the host’s batters confronted little issue in blunting the Kerala assault on the gradual wicket. The match drifted to a draw on the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium on Monday.

After being set a goal of 290 in 53 overs, Chhattisgarh made gradual progress to 71 for one off 22 overs when the captains agreed to shake palms after the tea break. Kerala took three factors for the primary innings lead, whereas Chhattisgarh acquired one.

Kerala’s quest for fast runs within the morning was given impetus by Vishnu Vinod, who clubbed two boundaries and a six within the first two overs bowled by medium pacers Ravi Kiran and Ashish Chouhan. Vishnu’s blitz didn’t final lengthy, as he threw away his wicket to a wild slog towards left-arm spinner Ajay Mandal. The new batter, Sanju Samson, didn’t enable the tempo to dip as he attacked the bowlers to attain runs rapidly. Sanju perished making an attempt for an enormous shot towards Ajay and was caught on the long-on fence by Shashank Chandrakar.

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Mohammed Azharuddeen joined Sachin Baby and the 2 put the Chhattisgarh assault to sword. The batters ran the singles arduous and manipulated the sector by improvising their pictures.

Ajay Mandal bore the brunt because the fifth-wicket stand rapidly raised 100 runs. Sachin Baby, after taking part in himself in, effortlessly switched gears to tear the bowling aside. Rasping cuts and flowing drives marked Baby’s innings, and he regarded set for one more century however was run out courtesy of a direct throw by Rishab Tiwari. Kerala declared the innings after Azharuddeen accomplished his fifty to set a goal of 290 for the host.

Thampi gave Kerala an early carry when he cleaned up Shashank Chandrakar within the fifth over. But Rishab and Ashutosh Singh overcame their tentative begins to play watchful knocks that pressured Kerala captain Sanju to conform to a draw after the Tea break.