Kerala faced a challenging second day in their Ranji Trophy encounter against Maharashtra at the Sports Hub, Greenfield stadium, as a familiar adversary and a former teammate combined to haunt them. The day, already hampered by rain, saw Maharashtra’s bowlers make significant inroads.
Medium-pacer Rajneesh Gurbani, a player who famously dismantled Kerala eight years prior in a Ranji Trophy quarterfinal in Surat, proved to be their nemesis once again. He scalped two rapid wickets, immediately putting Kerala on the defensive. This bowling assault followed a resilient display from Maharashtra’s lower order during an extended post-lunch session.
Adding to Kerala’s woes, Jalaj Saxena struck in the very first over after the tea break, dismissing the dangerous opener Rohan Kunnummal for 27. This left Kerala in a precarious position at 35 for 3, before the persistent rain returned, forcing an early end to play after just four more deliveries.
Only 35.5 overs were bowled on the day, as heavy pre-match showers had washed out the entire morning session. When play finally resumed at 12:10 p.m., Maharashtra’s overnight pair, Vicky Ostwal and Ramakrishna Ghosh, comfortably handled Kerala’s bowling attack. The Kerala medium-pacers struggled to find an effective length, often bowling too short to pose a real threat to the batsmen.
Ostwal and Ghosh built a valuable 59-run partnership for the eighth wicket. It was left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma who finally broke the stand, generating extra bounce to induce an edge from Ghosh (31), which was safely caught by Azharuddeen. Nidheesh then completed his well-deserved five-wicket haul by having Gurbani (10) caught behind, again by Azharuddeen. Basil finally ended Ostwal’s defiant innings of 38, trapping him leg before wicket, bringing Maharashtra’s first innings to a close at 239 runs.
In response, Rohan Kunnummal began Kerala’s innings with aggressive intent, hitting Gurbani for two boundaries in the opening over and quickly reaching 20 runs. However, his partner, Akshay Chandran, looked uneasy at the crease and was eventually dismissed by Gurbani, providing the pacer with his first wicket. Gurbani continued his impressive spell, taking a superb return catch to remove B. Aparajith, who edged a flick shot. The crucial blow came when Rohan Kunnummal misjudged a quicker delivery from Jalaj Saxena, playing back when he should have been forward, and was trapped plumb in front of the stumps. This left Kerala in significant peril.
The detailed scorecard for the match is as follows:
Maharashtra – 1st Innings:
Prithvi Shaw lbw b Nidheesh 0
Arshin Kulkarni c Rohan b Basil 0
Siddhesh Veer c Azharuddeen b Nidheesh 0
Ruturaj Gaikwad lbw b Edhen 91
Ankit Bawne b Basil 0
Saurabh Nawale lbw b Nidheesh 12
Jalaj Saxena lbw b Nidheesh 49
Vicky Ostwal lbw b Basil 38
Ramakrishna Ghosh c Azharuddeen b Ankit 31
Rajneesh Gurbani c Azharuddeen b Nidheesh 10
Mukesh Choudhary not out 0
Extras (lb-2, w-6): 8
Total (all out in 84.1 overs): 239
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-5, 5-18, 6-140, 7-164, 8-223, 9-239
Kerala Bowling:
Nidheesh 20-7-49-5
Basil 18.1-7-57-3
Edhen 11-1-41-1
Ankit 22-5-54-1
Aparajith 7-0-18-0
Akshay 6-0-18-0
Kerala – 1st Innings:
Akshay Chandran lbw Gurbani 0
Rohan S. Kunnummal lbw b Jalaj 27
B. Aparajith c & b Gurbani 6
Sachin Baby (batting) 0
Extras (1b-2): 2
Total (for three wickets in 10.4 overs): 35
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-35, 3-35
Maharashtra Bowling:
Mukesh 5-1-13-0
Gurbani 5-0-20-2
Jalaj 0.4-0-0-1