Vijay Hazare Trophy, Group A: Basith, Sathar shine as Kerala beats Saurashtra by three wickets

With the target set at 186, Kerala struggled for momentum as wickets fell regularly but Akhil Scaria and Abdul Basith’s partnership put their side back on track.

Fast bowler Akhin Sathar, making his debut, shone bright with four wickets, in the Vijay Hazare Trophy between Kerala and Saurashtra in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain / The Hindu

Kerala edged out Saurashtra by three wickets in their opening Group ‘A’ match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at Alur Cricket Stadium here on Thursday.

With the target set at 186, Kerala struggled for momentum as wickets fell regularly. Captain and key batter Sanju Samson (30, 47b, 6x4) was the fourth to fall, cutting a short ball from pacer Ankur Panwar to deep point.

Akhil Scaria (28, 54b, 1x4, 2x6) and Abdul Basith (60, 76b, 9x4, 1x6) put on an 88-run fifth-wicket stand to get Kerala back on track.

The dismissals of Scaria, Basith and Sijomon Joseph then put Shreyas Gopal in the hot seat. Gopal (21 n.o., 33b, 2x4), who moved to Kerala from Karnataka at the start of the season, kept his cool to guide his team home.

The match ended when Basil Thampi hammered spinner Parth Bhut for a massive straight six. Earlier, Saurashtra recovered from a disastrous start to post 185.

Vishvarajsinh Jadeja (98, 121b, 5x4, 5x6) and captain Jaydev Unadkat (37, 54b, 4x4) came together with the defending champion reeling at 65 for seven.

Just when Unadkat looked settled, he pulled a long hop from spinner Gopal to mid-wicket. Jadeja went on the offensive when he was joined by the tailenders.

Jadeja cleared the ropes on five occasions, while ensuring that Saurashtra bats nearly its full quota of overs. He was the last man to go, brilliantly caught by a diving one-handed effort from wicketkeeper Samson.

Fast bowler Akhin Sathar, making his debut, shone bright with four wickets. In another encounter, Pondicherry defeated Railways by 22 runs.

Brief scores:

Saurashtra 185 in 49.1 overs (Vishvarajsinh Jadeja 98, Jaydev Unadkat 37, Akhin Sathar 4/39) lost to Kerala 188/7 in 47.4 overs (Sanju Samson 30, Akhil Scaria 28, Abdul Basith 60, Ankur Panwar 4/50)

Tripura 107 in 29 overs (Biplab Samantaray 5/32, D. Pradhan 4/14) lost to Odisha 108/6 in 23.2 overs (Senapati 41, Samantaray 29).

Pondicherry 172 in 49.1 overs (Fabid Ahmed 64, Yuvraj 4/25, Karn Sharma 3/50) bt Railways 150 in 45.3 overs (C. Shivam 63, Merai 38, Mathew 4/41)