By Admin 
A flawless opening hour, that saw Kerala bowlers M.D. Nidheesh and N.P. Basil scythe through the Maharashtra top order with swing and bounce, put the host in command at the end of the opening day’s play in the Ranji Trophy at the Sports Hub, Greenfield Stadium, here on Wednesday.
A dutiful accumulation by Ruturaj Gaikwad (91, 151b, 11×4) and his 122-run sixth-wicket partnership with Jalaj Saxena (49, 106b, 4×4) carried Maharashtra from 18 for five to 179 for seven when bad light and rain stopped play 37 minutes after tea.
Quick strikes
Earlier, Kerala captain Mohammed Azharuddeen called it right and opted to field. He gambled by giving the new ball to Nidheesh and the medium-pacer reposed the faith by pinning Prithvi Shaw (0) in front with an inswinger. Siddesh Veer (0) feathered a catch to Azharuddeen as Maharashtra slipped to zero for two in the first over.
Basil returned a three-wicket haul.
| Photo Credit:
NIRMAL HARINDRAN
Basil got the ball to bounce and it took the edge of Arshin Kulkarni’s (0) bat and was snapped by a diving Rohan Kunnummal at the second slip. Basil then had captain Ankit Bawne (0) playing on to leave Maharashtra in dire straits (5/4). Nidheesh, who has worked on his inswingers this season, trapped Nawale in front as Maharashtra slipped to 18 for five.
Aggressive
Jalaj walked in to bat against his former teammates and was overtly aggressive. The sixth-wicket pair exploited the better batting conditions after the first hour to frustrate the home bowlers.
Maharashtra’s Ruturaj scored 91.
| Photo Credit:
NIRMAL HARINDRAN
Ruturaj cover drove and square cut Eden Apple Tom for successive boundaries to reach his fifty. However, Nidheesh nipped one back to trap Jalaj in front for 49.
Eden redeemed himself after an erratic first spell to dismiss Ruturaj against the run of play. He was a little late as the ball from Eden cannoned onto his pads. Light deteriorated rapidly, forcing the umpires to stop play when Vicky Ostwal (10) and Ramakrishna Ghosh (11) were batting.
The scores: Maharashtra — Ist 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 Eden 91, Ankit Bawne b Basil 0, Saurabh Nawale lbw b Nidheesh 12, Jalaj Saxena lbw b Nidheesh 49, Vicky Ostwal (batting) 10, Ramakrishna Ghosh (batting) 11; Extras (lb-1, w-5): 6; Total (for seven wkts. in 59 overs): 179.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-5, 5-18, 6-140, 7-164.
Kerala bowling: Nidheesh 15-5-42-4, Basil 15-6-44-2, Eden 9-1-38-1, Ankit 13-2-33-0, Aparajith 3-0-8-0, Akshay 4-0-13-0.
Toss: Kerala.