Kerala captain Sachin Baby praised the collective effort from his batters after his team clinched three points against Haryana by claiming the first innings lead at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Stadium here on Saturday.
“Very happy with all the batters. They showed a lot of responsibility in these conditions. Their bowlers were bowling really well, particularly [Anshul] Kamboj. It was not easy to bat. But our batters stuck to the basics and reduced mistakes,” said Sachin after the end of the final day’s play.
After having batted for nearly 120 overs across three days in the first innings, Kerala took charge of the match through its bowlers, who skittled out Haryana for just 164 to claim their side the lead.
Report | Kerala, Haryana agree to draw; visitor secures first-innings lead
“We initially started with a plan to bowl back of a length. But we understood that it was better to get back to our basics and then we started getting the wickets,” said Sachin.
All four days of the match saw smog making an appearance, particularly in the morning session. Sachin rued the overs lost due to this as a missed opportunity for his team.
“We lost about 90 overs in this game [due to smog]. The last time we qualified for Ranji knockouts, we did it by beating Haryana here. We had that confidence in us. If we had those 90 overs, this game’s result would have been different,” added Sachin.
Kerala is currently second in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C standings, as it heads into the white-ball phase of the domestic season.
“Our goal is to qualify for the knockouts. We haven’t done that in the last four seasons. We have been pretty successful in the white-ball tournaments. But not so much in the red ball. We intend to change that,” said Sachin.
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