Edhen Apple Tom could be forgiven if he feels life can be so easy.
Three days ago, he made his First Class debut at 17. He celebrated it with a wicket off his very first ball, as he became the first from Kerala to achieve the feat.
Remarkably on Saturday, he did it in the second innings too. He had D.B. Ravi Teja edging to slip with his first ball. Before that, he had taken a fine diving catch at short leg.
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Later in the day, he was celebrating with his Kerala teammates a Ranji Trophy victory -- by an innings and 166 runs against Meghalaya at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Ground (C). And he capped the day off with a Player of the Match award.
Meghalaya, playing in Elite Group for the first time, once again found the four-pronged Kerala pace attack too hot to handle on a green-top. Captain Sachin Baby didn’t have to use even one ball of spin in the first innings. In the second though, he turned to the off-spin of Jalaj Saxena at the end of 41 overs. Six wickets had already fallen by then.
Manu had given Kerala a splendid start when he had Kishan Lyngdoh playing the fourth ball of the innings on to the stumps. Then Thampi, who looked the sharpest of the Kerala pacers, had Wallam Kynshi caught by the boy of the moment, Edhen.
In his next over, Thampi removed Meghalaya’s captain and first-innings hero Punit Bisht, whose tame shot was taken by Jalaj at point. Then Edhen came into the attack and took his customary wicket off the first ball. He would claim one more wicket – that of Chirag Khurana, who played some glorious strokes in his 70-ball 75 (15x4) before he fell lbw.
Earlier, Vathsal Govind completed a well-deserved hundred (106 not out, 193b, 8x4, 1x6) before Kerala, which had resumed at 454 for eight, declared its innings at 505 for nine. The 22-year-old, playing only his second Ranji match, looked solid and lived up to the expectations.
Kerala’s next match is against Gujarat and Meghalaya’s is against Madhya Pradesh. Both the games start here on February 24.
The scores:
Meghalaya – 1st Innings: 148
Kerala -- 1st Innings:
P. Rahul c Akash b Aryan 147, Rohan Kunnummal c Ravi b Chirag 107, Jalaj Saxena b Dippu 10, Sachin Baby c Kynshi b Nafees 56, Vathsal Govind (not out) 106, Vishnu Vinod b Aryan 4, Sijomon Joseph c Kinshy b Nafees 21, Manu Krishnan b Chirag 11, Basil Thampi c Aryan b Chirag 8, S. Sreesanth c Larry b Aryan 19; Extras (b-2, lb-3, nb-1, w-10) 16; Total (for nine wkts. decl. in 140.4 overs): 505.
Fall of wicket: 1-201, 2-219, 3-315, 4-329, 5-337, 6-390, 7-422, 8-454, 9-505.
Meghalaya bowling: Dippu 19-3-79-1, Chengkam 11-1-57-0, Akash 15-3-75-0, Nafees 18-4-54-2, Chirag 45-5-130-3, Aryan 32.4-3-105-3.
Meghalaya – 2nd Innings:
Kishan Lyngdoh b Manu 0, Wallam Kynshi c Edhen b Thampi 9, Chirag Khurana lbw b Edhen 75, Punit Bisht c Jalaj b Thampi 0, D.B. Ravi Teja c Rahul b Edhen 2, Larry Sangma c Rohan b Thampi 19, Dippu Sangma (not out) 55, Akash Choudhary c Rahul b Jalaj 6, Aryan c Baby b Jalaj 11, Nafees Siddique c Vishnu b Thampi 2, Chengkam Sangma st Vishnu b Jalaj 4; Extras (b-2, lb-6) 8; Total (in 53.5 overs): 191.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-26, 3-38, 4-56, 5-83, 6-116, 7-123, 8-148, 9-174.
Kerala bowling: Manu 6-2-22-1, Thampi 16-3-43-4, Sreesanth 9-0-57-0, Edhen 9-1-30-2, Jalaj 11.5-4-28-3, Sijomon 2-0-3-0.
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