KC Akshay

KC Akshay claimed two wickets to help Kerala reduce Vidarbha to 45 for three on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final match which was truncated due to wet outfield on Thursday.

The result of Kerala’s Elite B match against Andhra was a foregone conclusion going into the final day here at St.Xavier’s College Ground, Thumba on Thursday.

The Kerala bowlers were clueless when Saurashtra openers Robin Uthappa and Snell Patel put on a century stand on Day 2 of their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Kerala at St. Xavier's College, Thumba on Saturday.

B Anirudh Sitaram (103 n.o., 10x4, 4x6) and M Abhinav (6 for 45) were the stars for Tamil Nadu as the hosts defeated Hyderabad by nine wickets in their South Zone U-23 One-day clash here on Saturday.

Saurashtra beat Jharkhand by six wickets in a Ranji Trophy group B encounter bagging six points and move upto third in the points table. After following on, Jharkhand scored 341 in their second innings, courtesy a whirlwind 99 off 75 balls by Nazim Siddiqui, who hit 13 boundaries and two sixes.

Vidarbha came back with two wickets after being bowled out for 246 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final match against Kerala on Friday.

Riding on the performances of two professional guest players -- Jalaj Saxena and KB Arun Karthick -- who scored a century and a half-century respectively, Kerala batted themselves into a position of strength on Day 2 of their Elite B Ranji Trophy match against Andhra at St.Xavier’s College ground here on Tuesday.

Kerala batting showed up its fragile face once again and this time there was no Jalaj Saxena to bail them out.

Cheteshwar Pujara warmed up nicely for the Sri Lanka Test series with a record 12th first-class double hundred ensuring a huge first innings total of 553 for 9 for Saurashtra against Jharkhand in a group B encounter.

Uprooting the stumps, grabbing catch on follow through, stunning batsman with sharp bouncers, inducing edges and taking wickets in quick succession, Rajneesh Gurbani was the man of the moment on Saturday.

On paper, the Elite Group 'A' Ranji Trophy encounter between Kerala and Punjab beginning at the St Xavier's College ground in Thumba on Saturday appears to be a mismatch in the offing. Punjab have their tails up going into the match as they are leading the Ranji Trophy combined A & B points table with 18 points from four matches. On the other hand, Kerala have had a forgettable season so far losing three of their four Ranji matches and are in the 17th spot in the 18-team table.

Kerala selectors have named Jalaj Saxena as the captain for the remaining two group matches of the Ranji Trophy. The allrounder replaces Sachin Baby at the helm after Kerala's disappointing show in the first six matches of the season in which they lost four, drew one and won only one game.

Rishabh Pant once again showed his mastery in white ball cricket with a brilliant 93-ball 135 but couldn't help Delhi lost a thriller to Himachal Pradesh by two runs, in Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, with a serious possibility of losing out on quarter-final berth.

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.