After Jalaj Saxena's six-wicket haul, resolute Delhi make Kerala wait

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was a day of two halves. First, Kerala spinners led by the irresistible Jalaj Saxena bundled out Delhi for 142 and the hosts enforced the follow-on.
Then Delhi showed a resolute face in their second innings to close the third day at 142/1 in the Ranji Trophy game at St Xavier's College Ground, Thumba here on Wednesday. Delhi, still trailing by 241 runs, going into the final day would be hoping to secure a draw on a slow turner.
Saxena (6/63) bagged his 18th five-wicket haul to help Kerala take a huge first-innings lead of 383 runs.Delhi, who had begun the day at 23/2, lost the remaining eight wickets in just over a session. However, following on, the visitors batted better mostly due to their positive approach.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Anuj Rawat, who was India U-19 captain recently, counterattacked the bowlers to score 87 (103 balls; 10x4, 3x6) and put on 130 runs for the first wicket with Kunal Chandela (51 batting). They used the sweep effectively against the spinners to negate the turn and were not afraid to take the aerial route also.
Captain Dhruv Shorey (2 batting) is at the crease with Chandela as the game is set up for an interesting finish on the final day.
Earlier, in the morning, Shorey and Nitish Rana began well taking Delhi to 59 without losing a wicket. The fall of Shorey, caught by Robin Uthappa, off Saxena, triggered a collapse. Delhi lost four quick wickets for 16 runs. Navdeep Saini's late-order resistance (22) only delayed the inevitable as Delhi's first innings came to an end a few overs into the second session. Sijomon Joseph (2/7 took two wickets and Sandeep Warrier (1/26) and KS Monish (1/26) one each.
In the second essay, Rawat was determined not to go into a shell as he pounced on any loose delivery. Finally, captain Sachin Baby brought himself on and broke the 130-run first-wicket stand. Rawat mistimed a sweep and lobbed a catch to short fine-leg.
Saxena, who has now taken 47 wickets from eight matches at the venue, felt his job was not yet over. "It feels good when you are contributing the team. But we have a job to do tomorrow and I will feel better if we win it," said Saxena.
"There was nothing in it for the bowlers. They played well in the second innings. It takes time to take 20 wickets here and it will be a game of patience here," he added.
The change in mindset was the key for Delhi, according to Rawat. "In the first innings, we were far too defensive. In these kinds of wickets, you need to play positively and we did that in the second innings. The coach and the captain asked us to play in that manner. If we continue to do this, I think we can get a point from this match," he said.
Scoreboard:
Kerala: 1st innings: 525/9 decl.
Delhi: 1st innings (o/n: 23/2): D Shorey c Uthappa b Saxena 19, N Rana c Uthappa b Monish 25, J Sidhu c Asif b Saxena 3, L Yadav lbw b Saxena 5, S Sharma c Vinod b Joseph 11, P Sangwan c Asif b Saxena 17, V Mishra c Vinod b Saxena 13, N Saini c Uthappa b Joseph 25, T Baroka not out 1; Extras (lb 2, pen 5) 7; Total (All out; 62.4 overs) 142; FoW: 3/59, 4/ 67, 5/73, 6/75, 7/101, 8/103, 9/140;
Bowling: Warrier 10-3-26-1, Asif 9-5-16-0, Saxena 24-4-63-6, Monish 14-4-23-1, Joseph 5.4-3-7-2.
Delhi: 2nd innings: A Rawat c Rahul b Baby 87, K Chandela batting 51, D Shorey batting 2; Extras (nb 2) 2; Total (1 Wkt; 38 overs) 142.
FoW: 1/130.
Bowling: Warrier 5-1-10-0, Asif 3-0-22-0, Saxena 16-0-35-0, Monish 8-0-44-0, Uthappa 2-0-10-0, Joseph 2-0-18-0, Baby 2-0-3-1.