Ranji Trophy: Kerala wear down Haryana

LAHLI: On a sedate day of cricket, Kerala have reinforced their upperhand against Haryana in the Ranji Trophy Group B game despite their batting looking painstakingly slow from the outside. Kerala closed the second day at 205 for the loss of three wickets, three runs behind Haryana's first-innings score of 208 at Lahli on Sunday.
Jalaj Saxena (91 off 205 balls; 4x10) and Rohan Prem (79 not out off 273 balls; 9x4) shared a 172-run third wicket partnership but crucially it came in almost 75 overs and at various times, it looked they could have accelerated a bit more.However, the stand might turn out to be the pivotal point in the match as it has virtually shut the door down on Haryana, who would know any deficit of over 100 would be tricky for them in their second innings. Sending back Sanju Samson (16) for cheaply late in the day would have given Haryana some respite for he had looked in touch and could have inflicted major damage on the third morning.
Saxena and Rohan came together at the fall of Arun Karthik, who was bowled by Ashish Hooda, in the second over and batted till late into the final session. Both Saxena and Rohan recorded their third half-centuries of the season and frustrated the Haryana bowlers who were not able to extract much out of an untypical Lahli wicket.
Apart from a few tight singles which required them to pull out desperate dives to makes the crease, the pair was hardly troubled in the first session as Kerala went for lunch at 67 for one. The Haryana seamers did not seem to have learned from the lengths the Kerala bowlers were bowling to reap benefits towards the end of the first day. They kept banging in short and were duly punished by Saxena, a natural puller.
Even as the part-timers were brought in, the Kerala duo was not willing to chance their arms and it led to an idle second session win which only 82 runs came in 34 overs. Haryana skipper Mishra finally got Saxena out with a googly which went through the gate to bowl him, robbing the batsman of a second century this season.
Sanju Samson (16), who had had a long wait near the boundary lines, at times with a book in his hand, came in and injected some momentum into the innings. He took on Mishra and lofted him straight out of the park and hit a couple of more crisp boundaries. However, Sanju's innings was cut short by an in-dipper by promising young seamer Ajit Chahal. Basil Thampi came on as a nightwatchman and saw out the day without further damage.
At the end of the day's play, Kerala captain Sachin Baby said it was the perfect day for his team. "Everything went right for us. Jalaj and Rohan batted brilliantly. We are almost level with their total. We have stroke-makers waiting to come in. So a lead of 150 would be a huge on this wicket," said Sachin.
Scoreboard
Haryana
1st innings: o/n: 207/9 A Mishra not out 32; A Hooda c Karthik b Thampi 0;
Extras: (nb 8, b 5, lb 1) 14;
Total: (All out in 81.3 overs) 208;
Bowling: Warrier 18-4-50-4, Nidheesh 18-4-40-1, V Kumar, 19-7-40-2, B Thampi 11.3-0-39-2, Saxena 15-2-33-1.
Kerala
1st innings: A Karthik b Hooda 3, J Saxena b Mishra 91, R Prem batting 79, S Samson lbw b Chahal 16, B Thampi batting 0;
Extras: (nb 3, w 2, b 6, lb 3) 14; Total (For 3 wkts in 85 overs) 205;
FoW: 1/5, 2/177, 3/198;
Bowling: H Patel 11-1-30-0, Hooda 14-2-25-1, Chahal 14-3-47-1, Mehta 18-6-35-0, Mishra 16-3-33-1, Bishnoi 8-3-14-0.