Ranji Trophy 2023-24: Vishnu Vinod’s flamboyance keeps Kerala in the contest against Uttar Pradesh

Kerala, after restricting Uttar Pradesh to 302 in the first innings, ended the day at 220 for six with Shreyas Gopal (36) and Jalaj Saxena (6) surviving a tricky final session.

Vishnu tempered his aggression initially but soon went into attack mode against the spinners.  | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Vishnu Vinod made a strong statement on his comeback with a trademark flamboyant knock (74) that helped Kerala to stay in the contest against Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy cricket match at the SD College ground here on Saturday.

The host, after restricting Uttar Pradesh to 302 in the first innings, ended the day at 220 for six with Shreyas Gopal (36 batting) and Jalaj Saxena (6 batting) surviving a tricky final session.

But Kerala owes it to Vishnu, who was playing his first Ranji Trophy match after two years, for preventing Uttar Pradesh from dominating the contest. The start was ominous for the host with debutant Krishna Prasad falling for a golden duck. Vishnu walked in when Kerala was tottering at 32 for three. Kuldeep Yadav was tormenting Kerala batters and had just breached Rohan Prem’s defence with a delivery that whizzed past his defensive prod to castle him.

READ | Ranji Trophy 2023-24, Day 2: Padikkal, Pandey score hundreds as Karnataka leads by 309 runs against Punjab

Vishnu tempered his aggression initially but soon went into attack mode against the spinners. He hit Saurabh Kumar out of the attack and didn’t spare Kuldeep either. Vishnu hit Saurabh for three sixes and a four in an over to race to his fifty. Sachin Baby (38) proved to be an ideal foil as he added 99 runs for the fourth wicket with Vishnu to resurrect the innings. Vishnu, who was suffering from cramps, tried a cheeky reverse sweep against Kuldeep and perished. Sanju Samson made a late entry and began in style, clobbering the first ball he faced from Kuldeep for a straight six. He batted fluently to reach 35 but fell to a fine leg-side catch at the fag end of the last session to give Uttar Pradesh a big boost.

Earlier in the morning, Kerala medium pacers M.D. Nidheesh and Basil Thampi picked up wickets regularly to restrict the visitors. A double strike by Nidheesh hastened the end of Uttar Pradesh’s innings. Rinku Singh’s desperation to reach a hundred saw him edge a wide delivery in the slips, and Yash Dayal fell for a golden duck to another catch in the slips. Kuldeep (5) then hit a full toss from Jalaj to midwicket as the visitors were bowled out for 302.

BRIEF SCORES

Uttar Pradesh 302 (Priyam Garg 44, Rinku Singh 92, Dhruv Jurel 63; M.D. Nidheesh 3/68) leads Kerala 220/5 (Vishnu Vinod 75; Kuldeep Yadav 3/66) by 82 runs.