Nagpur, Feb 27: Aditya Sarwate’s unbeaten 66 anchored Kerala’s reply as the visitors reached 131/3 at stumps on the second day of the Ranji Trophy final, after restricting hosts Vidarbha to 379 in the first innings on Thursday.
Doughty Kerala fought all day long to keep the game interestingly poised as they trailed by another 248 runs in the first innings, riding on local star Sarwate’s fine knock after their bowlers did not allow Vidarbha to post a huge total in the first essay.
Vidarbha had set sights on a total around 450 after reaching 254/4 on the opening day, but Kerala fought back incredibly well to keep the hosts under 400 which featured a career-best 153 from Danish Malewar and Karun Nair’s 86.
Kerala, who had ended the opening day’s play with the vital dismissal of Karun Nair (86), remained persistent throughout the first session on the second day as their seamers MD Nidheesh (3/61), Eden Apple Tom (3/102) and NM Basil (2/60) produced a unified show.
Basil snuck one through the gap between Malewar’s bat and pads for the first breakthrough, ending the No 4 batter’s charge at 153 off 285 balls with 15 fours and three sixes.But perhaps the biggest breakthroughs of the day came for Kerala when Eden had Vidarbha’s red-hot form batter Yash Rathod caught in the slips for a mere three.
Vidarbha skipper Akshay Wadkar’s (23) resistance did not last long when his charge against Eden’s delivery outside off, took an edge and keeper Mohammed Azharuddeen did the rest.
To their credit, Vidarbha’s tail consisting Akshay Karnewar (12), Harsh Dubey (12 not out) and Nachiket Bhute (32) did well to drag them as far as 379.
It was imperative for Vidarbha to strike with the new ball and Darshan Nalkande (2/22) provided two early wickets, cleaning up both the Kerala openers Akshay Chandran (14) and Rohan Kunnummal (0) to reduce Kerala to a precarious 14/2.
But Sarwate, who was once a vital cog in Vidarbha’s line-up and was a member of their two-time title winning campaigns in 2017-18 and 2018-19, stood against his former side to lead a strong reply for Kerala.
Brief scores:Vidarbha 379 in 123.1 overs (Danish Malewar 153, Karun Nair 86; MD Nidheesh 3/61, Eden Apple Tom 3/101, NM Basil 2/60) lead Kerala 131/3 in 39 overs (Aditya Sarwate 66*, Ahammed Imran 37; Darshan Nalkande 2/22) by 248 runs. (PTI)
