Chandigarh pacer Rohit celebrates one of his triple strikes.
| Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran
Kerala is no stranger to batting collapses but this should rank as the worst of the season as the host lost eight wickets for 44 runs in 16 overs after lunch and was bundled out for 139 in the first innings against Chandigarh on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the KCA Stadium on Thursday.
Chandigarh probably enjoyed its best day of the season as it took a three-run lead, ending at 142 for one.
Opener Arjun Azad (78 batting, 99b, 10×4, 1×6) and captain Manan Vohra (51 batting, 87b, 7×4) counterattacked and forged an unbroken 117-run partnership for the second wicket to put the visitors in command.
Kerala also failed to grab its chances. Skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen missed a stumping as he failed to gather the ball when Sreehari Nair beat Vohra’s forward push when the batter was on 11. Azad and Vohra punished the wayward bowling to score briskly to cap an excellent day for the visiting side.
The day began ominously for the home team as opener Abhishek J. Nair (1) flicked left-arm medium-pacer Karthik Sandil straight to Vishu Kashyap at mid-on. A.K. Akarsh (14) never looked comfortable and was put out of his misery by an inducker from Rohit Dhanda.
But there was no signpost to the impending doom when Sachin Baby (41) and B. Aparajith (49) played steadily to add 58 runs for the third wicket. However, Rohit’s spell after lunch turned the contest on its head. Baby played across and was trapped in front by a ball that kept a tad low. Vishnu Vinod’s comeback lasted just five balls with Rohit bluffing the batter with an inswinger after a dose of outswingers.
Left-arm spinner Nishunk Birla extracted bounce and turn and had Aparajith feathering a catch to wicketkeeper Arjit Singh. After skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen (four) fell cheaply to Jagit Singh, Birla dismissed Ankit Sharma (one) and Sreehari (nought) off successive balls to leave Kerala tottering at 123 for eight. Salman Nizar was left stranded on 13 as Eden Apple Tom (nought) and M.D. Nidheesh (one) failed to support him. Birla (four for 40) was the standout bowler for Chandigarh.
The scores: Kerala — 1st innings: A.K. Akarsh b Rohit 14, Abhishek J. Nair c Vishu b Karthik 1, Sachin Baby lbw b Rohit 41, B. Aparajith c Arjit b Birla 49, Vishnu Vinod lbw b Rohit 0, Salman Nizar (not out) 13, Mohammed Azharuddeen c Arjit b Jagit 4, Ankit Sharma b Birla 1, Sreehari S. Nair lbw b Birla 0, Eden Apple Tom b Jagit 0, M.D. Nidheesh c Bhambri b Birla 1; Extras (b-5, lb-6, nb-3, w-1): 15; Total (in 56 overs): 139.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-37, 3-95, 4-95, 5-117, 6-122, 7-123, 8-123, 9-134.
Chandigarh bowling: Jagit 10-3-17-2, Karthik 6-1-20-1, Vishu 11-3-24-0, Rohit 12-4-27-3, Birla 17-7-40-4.
Chandigarh — 1st innings: Nikhil Thakur c Azharuddeen b Nidheesh 11, Arjun Azad (batting) 78, Manan Vohra (batting) 51; Extras (nb-2): 2; Total (for one wkt. in 34 overs): 142.
Fall of wicket: 1-25.
Kerala bowling: Nidheesh 7-0-28-1, Aparajith 2-0-10-0, Sreehari 9-1-39-0, Ankit 11-1-36-0, Eden 5-0-29-0.
Published – January 22, 2026 07:08 pm IST
