Ranji: Rain denies Kerala win over J&K

The umpires called off play at 4 p.m. as Kerala settled for three points on the basis of gaining first innings lead.

Kerala started well on its pursuit to garner full points as fast bowler Basil Thampi bowled Adil Reshi for a duck in the second over of the innings

Rain saved Jammu and Kashmir from a possible outright defeat in the season opener against Kerala as the Ranji Trophy Group C match at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground here ended in a draw on Sunday. Beginning from its overnight total of 106 for five, following a half-an-hour delayed start due to wet outfield, Jammu and Kashmir was all out for 121 runs in its first innings.

>Full scorecard and ball-by-ball details

After being asked to follow on, Jammu and Kashmir was at 91 for four when rain stopped play for the third consecutive day. The umpires called off play at 4 p.m. as Kerala settled for three points on the basis of gaining first innings lead.

Kerala, which secured a healthy first innings lead of 183 runs and had nothing to lose, chose to make Jammu and Kashmir bat again and press for an outright victory on the final day. Kerala started well on its pursuit to garner full points as fast bowler Basil Thampi bowled Adil Reshi for a duck in the second over of the innings.

Opener Shubham Khajuria, who hit six fours in his unbeaten 39, and Pranav Gupta (23) put up 48 runs for the second wicket before the latter was caught behind off left-arm pacer Manu Krishnan after the lunch break.

Left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah had Ian Dev Singh Chauhan caught and bowled and captain Parvez Rasool caught by Monish K. in successive overs to reduce Jammu and Kashmir to 75 for four.

However, rain interruption shortly after the drinks break in the middle session dashed Kerala's hopes.

Earlier, resuming its first innings, Jammu and Kashmir added only 15 runs to its previous night's aggregate in 15 overs at the expense of remaining five wickets. Pacer Sandeep Warrier scalped Puneet Bisht, caught at point, in the first over of the day and had Ram Dayal Punia captured in the slips two overs later.

Monish added two more wickets to his kitty to return enviable figures of four for nine.

The scores (round one, day four)

Group A

At Jaipur: Baroda 544 for eight decl. drew with Gujarat 555 for four in 178 overs (Manpreet Juneja 201 n.o., Axar Patel 110 n.o., Bhargav Merai 70, Rujul Bhatt 58 retired hurt , Samit Gohil 43); Points: Gujarat (3), Baroda (1)

At New Delhi (Palam): Railways 331 & 245 for seven decl. in 81.2 overs (Saurabh Wakaskar 57, Shivakant Shukla 97, Mahesh Rawat 48, Vinay Choudhary three for 63) drew with Punjab 215 & 170 for three in 58 overs (Uday Kaul 61 n.o., Mandeep Singh 41 n.o., Jiwanjot Singh 33); Points: Railways (3), Punjab (1)

At Hyderabad: Madhya Pradesh 465 bt Uttar Pradesh 176 & 225 in 99.4 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 93, Sarfaraz Khan 49, Chandrakant Sakure six for 40); Points: Madhya Pradesh (7), Uttar Pradesh (0)

Group B

At Vizianagaram: Saurashtra 430 drew with Rajasthan 105 in 38.4 overs (Manender Singh 44, Shaurya Sanandia six for 14) & 30 for four in 14 overs; Points: Saurashtra (3), Rajasthan (1)

At Visakhapatnam: Odisha 150 & 274 for nine decl. in 102.1 overs (Govinda Poddar 58, Sandeep Pattnaik 40, Ranjit Singh 35, Subhransu Senapati 34, Deepak Behera 31 n.o., Akshay Wakhare three for 61) drew with Vidarbha 272 for six decl.; Points: Vidarbha (3), Odisha (1)

At New Delhi (Karnail Singh stadium): Maharashtra 210 & 188 lost to Jharkhand 306 & 93 for four in 19.5 overs (Virat Singh 33 n.o.); Points: Jharkhand (6), Maharashtra (0)

At Vadodara: Assam 193 & 313 in 96.3 overs (Syed Mohammed 82, Sarupam Purkayastha 47, Tarjinder Singh 42, Rahul Hazarika 40, Amit Verma 35, K.B. Arun Karthick 34, Manan Sharma five for 108) lost to Delhi 589 for eight decl.; Points: Delhi (7), Assam (0)

Group C

At Bhubaneswar: Himachal Pradesh 357 drew with Andhra 167 for one in 59 overs (D.B. Prasanth Kumar 93 n.o., Hanuma Vihari 68 n.o.); Points: Himachal Pradesh (1), Andhra (1)

At Nagpur: Goa 164 & 258 in 86.1 overs (Sagun Kamat 55, Saurabh Bandekar 51, Snehal Kauthankar 34, Rituraj Singh 30, M. Ravi Kiran three for 40) lost to Hyderabad 388 & 35 for one in 5 overs; Points: Hyderabad (6), Goa (0)

At Mumbai: Services 197 & 329 for six decl. in 104.3 overs (Nakul Verma 78, Shamsher Yadav 70, Ravi Chauhan 60, Anshul Gupta 40, Soumik Chatterjee 33) drew with Haryana 248 & 136 for one in 36 overs (Nitin Saini 101 n.o.); Points: Haryana (3), Services (1)

At Kalyani: Kerala 304 drew with Jammu & Kashmir 121 in 44 overs (Adil Reshi 40, Iqbal Abdulla three for 36, K.S. Monish four for 9) & 91 for four in 31.3 overs (Shubham Khajuria 39 n.o.); Points: Kerala (3), J&K (1)