Nizar, Azharuddeen hold firm as Kerala enters the semifinals

Mohammed Azharuddeen and Salman Nizar celebrate after Kerala secured a spot in the Ranji Trophy semifinal.
| Photo Credit:
EMMANUAL YOGINI

Kerala players and support staff cheer the team’s batters on the final day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Jammu and Kashmir in Pune on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit:
EMMANUAL YOGINI

It was a test of patience for the Kerala batters, but they eventually cleared it with elan as they batted out the final day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Jammu and Kashmir, to earn a draw and storm into the semifinal, riding on a one-run first innings lead.

Pursuing a target of 399, Kerala was never in a hurry to chase it down. Rather the plan seemed quite clear from the start: to play by the merit of the ball and bat out the day, something it had done in the group league fixture against Madhya Pradesh, earlier this season.

Resuming at 100 for 2, captain Sachin Baby and Akshay Chandran judged the early morning conditions well, and denied the J&K bowlers of any opportunity to make inroads.

With the entire camp, led by coach Amay Khurasiya, backing the batters with continuous synchronised clapping, both Baby and Chandran looked at ease, adding just 28 runs in the first 24 overs. With the MCA Stadium surface offering no help to the bowlers, Baby and Chandran held fort, and occasionally took singles.

However, shortly before lunch, Chandran fell two runs short of his fifty, after being caught by Shubham Khajuria at slip off a nippy Yudhvir Singh delivery. Early in the second session, off-spinner Sahil Lotra and left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq, however, spiced things up with quick wickets of Baby, Jalaj Saxena and Aditya Sarvate.

Baby, the Kerala captain, was unlucky to have missed out on a fifty, falling just two runs short, as he nicked one to wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan off a Lotra delivery.

With three quick wickets, a rejuvenated J&K side waited a bit before taking the new ball. However, with Mohammed Azharuddeen (67 n.o., 118b, 9×4, 2×6) and Salman Nizar (44 n.o., 162, 8×4) dominating with an unbroken partnership of 115, J&K’s hopes of reaching its maiden semifinal went up in smoke.

Coming on the back of a first innings century, Nizar anchored the innings, whereas Azharuddeen played a few shots to put the pressure on the opponent. J&K used seven bowlers to find breakthroughs, but a determined effort by Azharuddeen and Nizar saw Kerala reach the semifinals after six years.

The scores

Jammu and Kashmir – 1st innings: 280

Kerala – 1st innings: 281

Jammu and Kashmir – 2nd innings: 399 for 9 decl.

Kerala – 2nd innings: Rohan Kunnummal c Wadhawan b Yudhvir 36, Akshay Chandran c Khajuria b Lotra 48, Shoun Roger c Vivrant b Yudhvir 6, Sachin Baby c Wadhawan b Lotra 48, Jalaj Saxena c Nazir b Mushtaq 18, Aditya Sarvate c Nazir b Mushtaq 8, Salman Nizar (not out) 44, Mohammed Azharuddeen (not out) 67; Extras (nb-2, b-17, lb-1) 20; Total (for six wkts in 126 overs) 295

Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-70, 3-128, 4-159, 5-167, 6-180.

Jammu and Kashmir bowling: Nabi 20-6-49-0,  Nazir 14-4-35-0, Yudhvir 21-4-61-2, Lotra 36-17-50-2, Khajuria 1-0-5-0, Muzaffar 9-2-17-0, Mushtaq 22-9-56-2, Vivrant 3-2-4-0. 

Match drawn; Kerala enters semifinals based on first-innings lead