The final day’s play was exhilarating — it was one with highs and lows. Kerala came very close to a victory but missed out on the opportunity and had to be content with a first innings lead and three points against Services in the drawn Ranji Trophy plate league match at the Fort Maidan here on Sunday.
The first hour belonged to Kerala. Tinu Yohannan (five for 57) and Prasanth Chandran (two for 63) bowled with a lot of fire. And the visiting side (overnight 325 for five) was blown away in just 13 overs. It was evenly poised until then.
The home side enforced the follow-on and continued to apply pressure by picking up two early wickets. But, Kerala frittered away the advantage in the post lunch session. Jasvir Singh (43), Yashpal Singh (43) and Satish Upadhyay (38) played sensibly for Services before off-spinner S. Anish (six for 113) flighted the ball well to turn the advantage in Kerala’s favour. The host sensed the possibility of an outright win in the final hour of the day.
The Services’s tail had no answer to the 22-year-old SBT star, who took nine wickets in the opener. With the overs running into single digits, Kerala stepped on the accelerator to clinch a victory but A.K. Mohanty and Fazil Muhammed survived the final overs to salvage a draw.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment