THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was a class act. And, once again, Jalaj Saxena proved to be the thorn in Rajasthan’s flesh as he guided Kerala to a position of strength on the third day of the Group-B Ranji Trophy match at the St. Xavier’s-KCA cricket ground, Thumba, on Thursday.
Having broken the back of the Rajasthan first innings with a haul of eight for 85, the fine all-rounder, as a sequel to his 79 and his great spell, smashed a brilliant century — the first by a Kerala batsman this season — to guide his side to 217 for two in the second innings and an overall lead of 309.
In fact, there was nothing in which this 30-year-old from Indore could go wrong. This even when the pitch quite surprisingly proved to be flat in the morning.
Saxena or Joseph was hardly able to get any purchase from the track as Rajasthan resumed its first essay at the overnight total of 134 for six. And consequently it was a battle of nerves which in a way proved to be beneficial for the visitors, thanks to R.K. Bishnoi, T.N. Dhillon and D.L. Chahar, who made good use of the conditions to limit the Kerala lead below the three-figure mark (92).
It was just 20-odd minutes before the Rajasthan innings folded up and resultantly there was quite an urgency for Kerala to put up a total in double quick time so that Rajasthan would find it difficult to chase on the last day.
Saxena yet again was the man for the job and right-hander did not disappoint as he cut, drove and pulled the rival bowlers to help Kerala maintain a run-rate of four-plus all through before getting to the magical mark and remain unconquered on 102.
Vishnu Vinod was taken quite brilliantly at forward short-leg by Gautam off Dhillon and Rohan Prem, for a second time, fell leg before to Mahipur Lomror. But Sanju V. Samson made up for his lapses in the season so far as he gave Saxena company all through even while helping himself to a superb 72.
Sachin Baby, the Kerala skipper, would have loved to give a few overs to Rajasthan in the final session itself but this was not to be so, as play was halted due to bad light with 18 overs remaining to be bowled. Nevertheless, the promise of a keen contest between bat and ball on the morrow remains.
The scores:
Kerala — 1st innings: 335.
Rajasthan — 1st innings: A.V. Gautam c Chandran b Saxena 12, D.H. Yagnik c Karthick b Saxena 62, Robin Bist c Vinod b Saxena 14, Ashok Menaria c Vinod b Saxena 0, M.K. Lomror c Karthick b Saxena 11, R.K. Bishnoi c (sub) Surendran b Joseph 39, R.B. Bishnoi lbw b Saxena 5, T.N. Dhillon c Baby b Saxena 44, D.L. Chahar b Nidheesh 31, Pankaj Singh c Karthick b Saxena 9, A.V. Choudhary (not out) 2, Extras (b-13, lb-1): 14; Total (in 82.3 overs): 243.
Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-70, 3-70, 4-107, 5-112, 6-134 7-174, 8-224, 9-238.
Kerala bowling: Warrier 13-1-45-0, Saxena 33.3-5-85-8, Nidheesh 12-4-32-1, Chandran 1-0-2-0, Joseph 22-3-62-1, Prem 1-0-3-0.
Kerala — 2nd innings: Vishnu Vinod c Gautam b Dhillon 8, Jalaj Saxena (batting) 102, Rohan Prem lbw b Lomror 24, Sanju V. Samson (batting) 72, Extras (b-6, lb-5): 11; Total (for two wkts. in 46 overs): 217.
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-58.
Rajasthan bowling: Dhillon 6-0-34-1, Bishnoi 13-0-58-0, Lomror 13-0-47-1, Chahar 3-0-21-0, Pankaj 7-0-30-0, Choudhary 4-0-16-0.