Rajkot: After a gap of two years, Kerala took a huge lead in the innings once morest Meghalaya in Ranji Trophy cricket. In reply to Meghalaya’s first innings score of 148, Kerala were 454 for eight at stumps on the second day. With two wickets in hand, Kerala scored 306 runs
Has a first inning lead. Valsal Govind with 76 runs. Sreesanth at the crease. P. Rahul (147) and Rohan Kunnumal (107) put on a good start for Kerala. The duo put on 201 for the first wicket in the opening over. In ODIs, Rohan scored 107 off 97 balls. Rohan hit 17 fours and a six.
Rahul hit 239 off 179 balls with 17 fours and a six. Jalaj Saxena (10) did not shine following the split, but captain Sachin Baby (56) and Valsal scored half-centuries in the middle order to give Kerala the lead. Vishnu Vinod, who came on following Tendulkar’s 56 off 113 balls with six fours, might not do much. IPL Vishnu, who made it to the Hyderabad team for Rs 50 lakh in the star auction, returned with four runs. Valsal continues to hit 147 balls, four fours and a six. Vatsal cautiously attacked the bad balls. Sijomon Joseph (21), Manu Krishnan (11) and Basil Thampi (8) came out without significant contributions.
For Meghalaya, Chirag Khurana took three wickets, Nafees Siddiqui and Aryana Bora two and Dipu Sangama one.
Meghalaya, who lost the toss and opted to bat first, were bowled out for 148. Only skipper Puneet Bisht (93), Kishan Longdoh (26) and C Khurana (15) were able to find the trio. Kerala’s debutant Eden Apple’s Tom shone with four wickets as the pace bowlers put on a stellar performance. Eden’s four wickets for 41 runs in 9 overs. Sreesanth took two wickets for 40 runs in 11.4 overs. Manukrishnan took three wickets for 34 runs in 11 overs and Basil took one wicket for 25 runs in 9 overs.
