Ranji Trophy 2026-27: Kerala lets Gujarat off the hook, cedes early advantage

Aarya Desai (95, 132b, 6x4, 3x6) lost a chance to ring in a First-Class hundred, when he impatiently top-edged a wild slog, with Vishnu Vinod taking a straightforward catch. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

A frustratingly familiar script unfolded again for Kerala at the Narendra Modi stadium here on Monday. For the third time this season, Kerala allowed the opposition’s lower-order to fight back and wrest away a hard-earned advantage.

An unbeaten, counter-attacking 111-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Urvil Patel (63 batting, 67b, 7x4, 1x6) and Vishal Jayswal (50 batting, 83b,3x4, 2x6) was the latest to hurt Kerala as Gujarat ended the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match on a relatively strong position of 300 for five.

Soon after tea, Kerala had Gujarat in a spot of bother at 189 for five when Jaymeet Patel (one) was stumped by Azharuddeen off Sarvate.

But Kerala let Gujarat off the hook when it failed to grab the chances and wilted under the calculated assault by Urvil and Jayswal. Rohan Kunnummal showed poor judgement while running back and failed to reach a skier from Jayswal when the batter was on 33. Mohammed Azharuddeen failed to collect the ball when Urvil, on 32, charged out to attack Aditya Sarvate. Urvil and Jayswal capitalised on the errors to take their side to a position of strength in the final session.

Earlier, Kerala had crawled back into the contest in the post lunch session, picking up four wickets to leave Gujarat at 182 for four. The scalps included that of top-scorer Aarya Desai (95, 132b, 6x4, 3x6) who in a hurry to reach his hundred top-edged a wild slog and was caught by Vishnu Vinod off Vaisakh Chandran.

In the morning, Aaryan and Abhishek Desai played fluently against Kerala bowlers who found little help from the flat track. However, a better disciplined show with the ball in the second session choked the run flow which forced the Gujarat batters to take risks, which ultimately led to a brief slide, before redemption arrived.

The scores

Gujarat ---1st innings: Abhishek Desai c Rohan b Nidheesh 42, Aarya Desai c Vishnu b Vaisakh 95, Vedant Trivedi c Rohan b Basil 9, Manan Hingrajia c Azharuddeen b Saxena 44, Jaymeet Patel st Azharuddeen b Sarvate 1, Urvil Patel (batting) 63, Vishal Jayswal (batting) 50; Extras (b-4, lb-2, wd-1): 7; Total (for five wkts in 83 overs): 300

Fall of wickets: 1-116, 2-138, 3-180, 4-182, 5-189.

Kerala bowling: Nidheesh 20-3-59-1, Basil 13-3-50-1, Jalaj 24-1-60-1, Sarvate 11-0-68-1, Vaisakh 15-2-57-1.