Ranji Trophy: Spinners shine as Kerala beat Saurashtra by 309 runs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The question on everyone's mind at the end of third day's play in the Group B Ranji Trophy tie at the St.Xavier's College Ground in Thumba was whether the Kerala bowlers would be able to prize out the remaining nine Saurasthra wickets on the final day to secure a win for the hosts.

It didn't take too long for the Kerala bowlers to come up with the answer on Day 4 as they bundled out

Saurashtra

for a paltry 95 to register an emphatic 309-run win over their opponents in an extended morning session.

The win was Kerala's 50th in Ranji Trophy history. More than the lure of the milestone, Kerala were desperate for a win in order to keep their knockout hopes alive.

Displaying their newly-found killer-instinct, Sachin Baby's team came up with the goods when it mattered which has helped them rise to second spot in Group B with 24 points from five matches.

Saurashtra dropped to third with 23 points while Gujarat, who beat Team Rajasthan by an innings 107 runs at Surat on Monday, are leading the points table with 27 points.

Kerala will face Haryana, who defeated Jammu and Kashmir by 18 runs, in their final group match at Lahli from November 25. A win in the last game would take Kerala into the knockout stage.

A draw with a first-innings lead could be enough to make it but then Kerala will have to wait for some favourable results from

Jharkhand

versus Gujarat and Team Rajasthan versus Saurashtra games.

After Sanju Samson's exploits with the bat on Sunday, Kerala spinners, Jalaj Saxena (4/29), KC Akshay (3/23) and Sijomon Joseph (3/27) combined well on the final day to bring about an early end to the day's play.

Resuming on their overnight score of 30/1, Saurashtra batsmen showed no resistance and collapsed like a house of cards. Except for Sheldon Jackson (24 off 74) and wicketkeeper-batsman Snell Patel (20 off 73), no other batsman was allowed to spend some time at the crease as Kerala spinners ran through their batting order.

Saurashtra lost wickets at regular intervals and with the close-in fielders supporting spinners with fine catching, the visitors' hopes of batting out the whole day lay shattered.

The Thumba track, where Sanju and KB Arun Karthik toyed Saurashtra bowlers on the third day, offered great help for the host spinners on the final day as they didn't use their pacer Basil Thampi and relied on their spinners to destroy the Saurashtran batting.

Robin Uthappa (12) was the first man to go on the fourth day as he gave a straight-forward catch to Fabid Ahmed at first slip of Sijomon. Patel too returned in the same fashion when the team total was 42.

Captain

Jayadev Shah

(14) and Jackson added 21 runs for the fourth wickets but Saxena struck when he had Shah caught behind by Mohammed Azharuddeen. Saxena struck again in the same over removing Prerak Mankad (0) to leave the visitors reeling at 63/5.

Mankad was caught by substitute fielder Vishnu Vinod at short-leg. Saurashtra's last five batsmen survived another fifteen overs and added 32 runs but they bowled out in the 52nd over for just 95.

Kerala captain Sachin Baby was a happy man after the big win. “It was a great team effort. We had a clear game plan against Saurashtra and we executed it well. Now, we are looking forward to our game against Haryana,” Sachin said after the match.

Saurashtra coach

Sitanshu Kotak

was disappointed with the result but gave full credit to Kerala. “Our bowling was not good on the third day and that cost us the game. Chasing such a huge a score is always tough but their spinners were excellent. Sanju's knock too was crucial for Kerala,” the coach said.