MOHALI: Punjab made Kerala dance and duck on a pitch wearing a green tinge at the PCA stadium on Saturday, dismissing the visitors for a paltry first innings total of 121 on the first day of the
Ranji Trophy Test match.
The cold and breezy conditions in the morning and the 22-yards in the middle excited pacers
Siddarth Kaul,
Manpreet Gony and Baltej Singh, probably making them sending a prayer to the heavens that their captain Mandeep Singh wins the flip-of-coin. Mandeep called it right, and the trio ensured they did nothing wrong to regret the decision of choosing to bowl first.
The first hour of play saw the pacers rip the heart out of the Kerala batting line-up, leaving the visitors reeling at 88 for the loss of seven wickets at the end of the first session. Kerala’s first innings lasted just 37 overs. The end came 45 minutes into the second session, with top-scorer Vishnu Vinod (35) becoming the sixth wicket for Kaul (6/55). Leggie Mayank Markande took two wickets from his four overs. Manpreet Gony, who was doubtful for the match, also chipped in with one wicket.
Punjab too started on a shaky note. Basil Thampi reduced Punjab to 30 for 2 — Shubman Gill (24) Anmolpreet Singh (0) being victims of his accurate bowling. But the seasoned duo of Jiwanjot Singh (67 not out) and Mandeep Singh (41 not out) made sure that Punjab did not lose any more wickets. Punjab were 135 for 2 at the stumps on Day 1. They have also taken a lead of 14 runs.
A day before the match, Punjab’s bowling coach
Harvinder Singh had spoken highly of Kaul. The speedster wreaked havoc on the Kerala batters.
Kerala started their innings positively before opener P Rahul was trapped in front by Kaul, setting the tone for things to follow. Arun Karthick soon joined his opening partner in the pavilion after he was also trapped in front by Baltej Singh.
In came Sanju Samson and the youngster hit two delectable boundaries, including one delightful straight drive. It seemed that Sanju would bail the hosts out of trouble, but he misread an inswinger of Kaul and was clean bowled. He could muster 14 runs.
In between, Gony saw off Sachin Baby and the scoreboard read 71 for 5. Kerala desperately needed a saviour, and
Jalaj Saxena and wicket-keeper Vishnu Vinod tried to steady the ship but Kaul had something else in mind. Saxena (14) played cut short straight into the hands of Yuvraj at backward point. At the stroke of lunch, Mandeep introduced leg-spinner Mayank Markande and it took him just two deliveries to claim his first wicket. He removed Sijomon Joseph.
Had it not been the counter-attacking knock of Vishnu Vinod, Kerala would have been bowled out for a much lesser total. He smashed two boundaries off a Markande over.
Kaul, in his second spell, removed the tail. Vinod was the last one to get out, as his pull went straight into the hands of Shubman Gill at square leg.
In the 37th over, Kaul brought the curtains down on Kerala’s innings. First, he trapped M Nidheesh on 6. Three balls later, Vinod went for a wild hoick and was caught at the deep square leg by Shubman Gill.
The track eased out a lot in the post-tea session. The morning session on Day 2 will be crucial and it’ll be interesting to see whether the Kerala’s pacers have the same impact as their Punjab counterparts.
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