Mohammed Azharuddeen made his comeback memorable with a matured knock which helped Kerala attain a challenging total in opposition to Chhattisgarh of their Ranji Trophy encounter at Raipur on February 3, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Mohammed Azharuddeen’s comeback into the Ranji group, after a four-year hiatus, turned memorable with a cultured knock of 85 which was the cornerstone of Kerala’s dominant day in opposition to Chhattisgarh of their Ranji Trophy cricket match on the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International stadium right here on Saturday.
His sweetly timed pictures weren’t a revelation on at the present time, however his temperament was. Azharuddeen’s well-paced innings carried Kerala to a challenging 350. Medium pacer M.D. Nidheesh, with a probing spell on the fag finish, took two wickets in an over, decreased the host to 100 for 4 and enabled Kerala end the second day on a excessive.
If not for a defiant unbeaten 50 by Sanjeet Desai, Chhattisgarh would have been in deeper bother. Sanjeet repaired the innings together with Ashutosh Singh (31) after the host misplaced openers, Shashank Chandrakar and Rishab Tiwari cheaply. Sanjeet added 75 with Ashutosh for the second wicket to frustrate the customer. But Nidheesh bowled with sustained hostility in his second spell and dismissed Ashutosh and Amandeep Khare in the identical over.
The day’s opening session belonged to each Azharuddeen and to the younger medium pacer Ashish Chouhan, who grew to become the primary bowler from Chhattisgarh to take 5 wickets (5 for 100) on debut.
Ashish Chouhan impressed with a 5 wicket haul on debut for Chhattisgarh in its Ranji Trophy encounter in opposition to Kerala at Raipur on February 3, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Ashish gave Chhattisgarh a dream begin when he had Sanju Samson, on his in a single day rating of 57, snicking a catch to wicketkeeper Ok.D. Eknath within the second over.
Azharuddeen bought into his groove fairly early and struck two crisp boundaries off Shashank Singh. Vishnu Vinod for a change was prepared to graft whereas Azhar performed with extra aggression.
However, Azhar by his requirements performed with a lot of restraint and put away solely the unhealthy balls. The seventh wicket stand between Azhar and Vishnu added 80, however the latter fell taking part in a wild hoick to Ashish. Shreyas Gopal was dismissed cheaply by Ashish for 5.
Left with the tail, Azhar opened out and hit his first six, a swivelled pull over fantastic leg and shortly fell attempting to repeat the stroke in opposition to Ravi Kiran.
The scores: Kerala – 1st innings: Rohan Kunnammal b Ravi 0, Jalaj Saxena c Tiwari b Ashish 0, Rohan Prem run out 54, Sachin Baby c Desai b Ashish 91, Sanju Samson c Eknath b Ashish 57, Vishnu Vinod b Ashish 40, Mohammed Azharuddeeen c Ajay b Ravi 85, Shreyas Gopal c Chandrakar b Ashish 5, Basil Thampi lbw b Ajay 5, M.D. Nidheesh lbw b Ajay 5, Akhin (not out) 0; Extras (b-6, lb-1, w-1): 8; Total (in 110.1 overs): 350.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-4, 3-139, 4-187, 5-220, 6-300, 7-317, 8-322, 9-350.
Chhattisgarh bowling: Ravi 28-6-84-2, Ashish 32-7-100-5, Sourabh 7.5-1-30-0, Ajay 22.1-5-56-2, Shashank 18-1-69-0, Ashutosh 2-0-4-0, Chandrakar 0.1-0-0-0.
Chhattisgarh — 1st innings: Shashank Chandrakar c Azharuddeen b Thampi 8, Rishab Tiwari b Jalaj 7, Ashutosh Singh lbw b Nidheesh 31, Sanjeet Desai (batting) 50, Amandeep Khare lbw b Nidheesh 0, Ok.D. Eknath (batting) 1; Extras (b-1, 1b-1, w-1): 3; Total (for 4 wkts in 44 overs): 100.
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-16, 3-91, 4-91.
Kerala bowling: Thampi 12-2-35-1, Nidheesh 11-5-19-2, Jalaj 10-4-9-1, Akhin 5-1-13-0, Shreyas 5-16-0, Vishnu 1-0-6-0.
