Kerala held the aces on a rain-hit opening day of the Ranji Trophy cricket match against Punjab at the KCA-St.Xavier’s College ground here on Saturday.
Opting to bat after winning the toss, Punjab slumped to 62 for five and then made a mini recovery to reach 95 for five at lunch.
However, sharp showers which began during the lunch break continued well into the third session and forced the umpires to call off play after 4.00 p.m.. All-rounder Ramandeep Singh (28 batting) and Krish Bhagat (6 batting) were involved in a fighting sixth wicket stand of 32 runs and for a short period the visitors had wrestled the momentum from the host.
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Left arm spinner Aditya Sarwate, making his debut for Kerala, made Punjab captain Prabhsimran Singh regret the decision of opting to bat first, as he sent back opener Abhay Choudhary off the fifth ball of the innings. The batter spooned a catch to Sachin Baby in the cover region while trying to dominate the spinner.
Basil Thampi, who shared the new ball with Sarwate, was hit for a crisp boundary by Naman Dhir. But Sarwate induced an edge off Naman (10) which was snapped up by Baba Aparajith in the slips.
Sarwate then castled Prabhsimran Singh (12) to pick up his third wicket while Nehal Wadhera (9) had his stumps rattled while playing back to Jalaj Saxena.
Anmolpreet Singh started off with a confident drive through mid-on for four off Sarwate. He looked very comfortable against the spinners until a moment of indiscretion cost him his wicket. The batter missed his sweep off Jalaj and was bowled for 28 and Punjab slumped to 62 for five. Ramandeep Singh attended the scoring in the sixth-wicket stand with Krish Bhagat who parried. Ramandeep muscled a six over long on off Jalaj and drove Sarwate through the covers for a boundary as the sixth wicket stand prospered.
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