Rohan leads Kerala’s chase with second straight hundred

Nidheesh takes five and Thampi four wickets in Gujarat innings

Rohan Kunnummal’s wonderful stroke-making ability was on display yet again, as the opener scored his second hundred in as many innings to lead Kerala’s chase of Gujarat’s first innings in a Ranji Trophy Group A match on Friday.

Kerala ended day two at the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium on 277 for four, trailing by 111 runs. It was the third-wicket stand of 119 between Rohan (129, 171b, 16x4, 4x6) and captain Sachin Baby (53 (100b, 6x4, 1x6) that steadied the ship after opener P. Rahul (44, 51b, 8x4) and Jalaj Saxena gave away their wickets in the last 11 minutes before lunch.

Rahul got carried away, rather uncharacteristically, after adding 85 for the opening wicket with Rohan inside 14 overs. He stepped out against left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai, only to be stumped. Taking a leaf out of his book, Jalaj, at the stroke of lunch, went for a cut off the same bowler and edged to slip.

Kerala could not have afforded another wicket. It didn’t give any in the entire second session, until Baby was bowled, through the gate, by a ball that came into the left-hander from left-arm seamer Arzan Nagwaswalla.

Eight overs later, Kerala lost its fourth wicket, as Rohan, right after pulling seamer Roosh Kalaria for a boundary through mid-wicket, tried an ambitious stroke on the other side, but managed to give only a catch to deep point. It was a tame end, the innings was anything but.

Rohan, light on his feet, timed his shots beautifully and played some lovely shots all around the ground. A gorgeous cover drive off Nagwaswalla stood out.

Earlier, Gujarat, resuming at 334 for four, was all out for 388, a considerable improvement from 33 for four or 90 for five. The man who was mainly responsible for that recovery, Het Patel, was batting on 146 overnight and he took his score 185 (245b, 29x4, 2x6) before he was the last man out, caught at square leg off Basil Thampi, who took four wickets. But M.D. Nidheesh was the pick of the bowlers, with figures of five for 54 from 22 overs.