Kerala’s batting flowered pretty late in the season but it will hardly make a difference to the state of the contest as the visitor’s passive approach and easy contentment will consign the match to a tame draw on Monday.
Kerala, riding on centuries from Akshay Chandran (184) and Sachin Baby (113), declared its first innings at 514 for seven against Andhra – with a lead of 242 - and by close on the penultimate day, it had reduced the host to 19 for one at the Dr. P.V.G. Raju ACA Sports Complex stadium in Vizianagaram on Sunday.
But on a flat track it will require a rank poor batting performance from the host to lose the match on the final day. The marked reluctance by the visitor to quicken the scoring was surprising and it overshadowed the centuries from Akshay and Baby.
It only took half-an-hour in the morning for Kerala (overnight 258 for three) to go past Andhra’s first innings score of 272 but overnight batters Baby (113) and Akshay (184) eschewed risks and extended their fourth wicket stand to 184 runs. Baby was defeated by the bounce which Manish Golamaru extracted and was forced to edge a catch to substitute Nithish Kumar Reddy at the first slip.
Akshay got a life on 63 when Ashwin Hebbar at third slip couldn’t latch on to a catch when the batter slashed at a delivery from Girinath Reddy. Akshay made Andhra pay dearly for the lapse as he, along with Salman Nizar, milked the bowling to add 126 runs for the fifth wicket.
Manish disturbed Salman’s (58) stumps when the batter missed the cut. Mohammed Azharuddeen took on the spinners and played the big shots to increase the pace of scoring. He clattered boundaries off both Shoaib Mohammed Khan and Manish to quickly reach 40 and perished while trying for another big shot. Baby declared the innings when Akshay was bowled by Shoaib, trying to go for a rare big hit.
N.P. Basil trapped debutant Revanth Reddy in front to give Kerala a good start. But Maheep Kumar and Ashwin Hebbar survived the hostile spell from Basil Thampi and Basil.
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