Ranji Trophy 2023-24: Sachin Baby, Akshay Chandran put Kerala in command against Andhra on Day 2

Another watchful accumulation by crisis man Sachin Baby (87 n.o.) and his partner Akshay Chandran’s new-found consistency (57 n.o.) put Kerala in a position of strength at the end the second day’s play in the Ranji Trophy match against Andhra at the Dr. P.V.G. Raju ACA Sports Complex stadium in Vizianagaram on Saturday.

Baby and Chandran added 134 runs for the fourth wicket as Kerala, in reply to Andhra’s first innings total of 272, reached 258 for three at close of play.

Stand-in captain Baby, after expertly marshalling his resources to restrict Andhra in the first innings, wore down the inexperienced attack with a mixture of adventurous strokes and water-tight defence. Ungainly at start, Baby waited to get his eye in. He saw off the faster bowlers, pinching the occasional boundary when they erred.

The captain was more at home against the spinners. He came down the track against the spin and leaned back to cut them for boundaries as he changed gears to race to his fifty. There was no help for the Andhra bowlers from the wicket and Baby prospered. He manipulated the field to increase the scoring rate towards the end of the day.

Chandran played the supporting role to perfection as Baby played the enforcer in the fourth-wicket stand which took the game away from Andhra. The left hander was patient and curbed his natural attacking game and played the ball on merit. Chandran converted the good start to compile a deserving half-century.

Chandran came in when Andhra had pulled things back after dismissing settled batters Rohan Kunnummal (61) and Krishna Prasad (43) who had added 86 runs for the second wicket. Prasad was kept scoreless for a while as Andhra choked him with a packed off-side field. The batter tried to attack and was caught in the deep. Kunnummal played with wristy elegance but his inability to dominate brought his downfall as he wasted another good start.

Earlier, Basil Thampi and N.P. Basil flushed out the Andhra tailenders in just under seven overs to leave Ricky Bhui stranded on 87.