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Kerala faces an uphill task; Cheruvathur scalps six

Sports Reporter

Palakkad: After finally bowling Goa out for 460 shortly after lunch with skipper Sony Cheruvathur scalping six, host Kerala withstood early hiccups to reach 107 for two at stumps on the second day of the Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy plate league clash at the Fort Maidan here on Tuesday. Former skipper Sreekumar Nair (38, 113b, 4x4) and V.A. Jagadeesh (43, 112b, 6x4, 1x6) were at the crease.

Overnight batsmen Swapnil Asnodkar (191, 412b, 27x4) and Ajay Ratra (136, 199b, 19x4), continued to pile on the runs, forcing Cheruvathur to turn to R.V. Gomez at one point.

But, eventually it was Cheruvathur who struck with his gentle medium pace. Bowling the third over of his first spell, he forced Ratra to edge one to wicketkeeper Vinan G. Nair. His departure not only brought an end to the glorious fourth-wicket partnership of 253 off 386 balls but also gave the host a fresh ray of hope as three more wickets fell in the space of 18 balls.

Asnodkar batted on, finding an able partner in Saurabh Bhandekar (36). After lunch, the Goa skipper failed to read a Sreekumar delivery and spooned a simple catch to Gomez at short cover. That exposed the tail and Cheruvathur ensured the tail did not wag too much. But, Goa had, by then, surpassed its previous best of 384 against Kerala at Panaji in 1995.

Kerala got off to a poor start — openers, R.V. Gomez and Sebastian Antony were sent back quickly by paceman Shinde.

The scores: Goa — 1st innings: S. Asnodkar c Gomez b Sreekumar 191, S. Kamath c Sreekumar b Yohanan 52, A. Katkar lbw b Cheruvathur 8, J. Arun Kumar b Yohanan 5, A. Ratra c Vinan b Cheruvathur 136, A. Desai b Cheruvathur 0, S. Jakiti c Vinan b Cheruvathur 0, A. Angle c Gomez b Yohanan 0, S. Bhandekar c Anish b Cheruvathur 36, R. Ninan (not out) 7, S. Shinde b Cheruvathur, Extras (b-6, lb-2, nb-16, w-1) 25; Total (in 135.4 overs) 460.

Fall of wickets: 1-105, 2-119, 3-135, 4-388, 5-390, 6-390, 7-395, 8-445, 9-460.

Kerala bowling: Yohanan 25-1-90-3, Prasanth Chandran 22-6-52-0, Cheruvathur 29.4-3-96-6, Rakesh 13-1-62-0, Anish 11-0-60-0, Jagadeesh 3-0-19-0, Sreekumar 28-7-62-1, Rohan 1-1-0-0, Gomez 3-0-11-0.

Kerala — 1st innings: R.V. Gomez lbw b Shinde 11, S. Anthony lbw b Shinde 6, V.A. Jagadeesh (batting) 43, Sreekumar Nair (batting) 38, Extras (b-2, lb-1, nb-6) 9; Total (for two in 42 overs) 107.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-19.

Goa bowling: S. Bhandekar 9-1-27-0, S. Shinde 8-2-17-2, S. Jakiti 9-4-13-0, Ryan Ninan 12-2-34-0, Aditya Angle 4-0-13-0.

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