Ranji Trophy 2023-24: Kerala fights back with late wickets against Andhra on Day 1

Ricky Bhui’s run glut continued but Kerala fought back with late wickets to take the first day’s honours in the Ranji Trophy cricket match against Andhra at the Dr. PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex Stadium on Friday.

There was little Kerala bowlers could do to stop Andhra captain Bhui, who was unbeaten on 79 at Stumps, but they managed to rein in other batters and restricted the host to 260 for seven after taking three quick wickets at the fag end of the day.

Shoddy catching by Kerala let Andhra off the hook in the morning. Rohan Kunnummal was the culprit as he dropped K. Maheep Kumar twice – N.P. Basil and Basil Thampi were the unlucky bowlers – even before the opener had reached double figures. Maheep cashed in on to his reprieves to score a dogged 81.

Maheep lost his partner and debutant opener K. Revanth Reddy (0) early as Thampi forced an edge which was snapped up by Akshay Chandran at first slip. Ashwin Hebber took on Kerala bowlers and creamed a few boundaries through the off-side. He was the dominant partner in the 51-run stand for the second wicket with Maheep. However, Ashwin became debutant Akhil Scaria’s first victim.

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Maheep and Hanuma Vihari (24) then added 74 runs for the third wicket before the latter lost patience and skied a catch to Basil at mid-on off Vaisakh Chandran. The off-spinner struck again when he had Maheep feathering a catch to Krishna Prasad at silly-point to leave Andhra at 144 for four.

Bhui looked in ominous touch from the start. He smashed Vaisakh through cover for his first boundary and played a series of rasping square drives and backfoot punches to put the pressure on Kerala bowlers.

Karan Shinde allowed his captain to do the bulk of the scoring early in their dominating fifth-wicket partnership of 104. Shinde (43) started to prosper after Tea but his wicket fell against the tide to Akshay. Kerala prised out two wickets cheaply – S.K. Raheed (0) and Shoaib Mohammed (5) – to end the day on a high.