File photo – Smit Patel’s 54 in the second innings wasn’t enough for Tripura © PTI
Kerala registered their first outright win of the season as they chased down 183 against Tripura in the first session of the final day in Cuttack.
Kerala’s opening pair of Bhavin Thakkar and Mohammed Azharuddeen extended their overnight stand of 117 to 151, before Azharuddeen was dismissed for 99, one short of his maiden first-class ton. Thakkar was dismissed for 47 shortly after, and a promoted Jalaj Saxena fell for 5, but Kerala chased down the target comfortably after that. Left-arm spinner Gurinder Singh took all three wickets. Azharuddeen, who had also top-scored for Kerala with 40 in the first innings, was named Player of the Match.
Hyderabad moved to the top of the group with a 286-run win over Jammu & Kashmir in Vadodara.
J&K began the day on 42 for 4, after Tanmay Agarwal‘s second century of the match – an unbeaten 103 to go with 119 in the first innings – had helped Hyderabad set them a target of 404. Their overnight pair of nightwatchman Ram Dayal (33) and Aditya Partap (26) added a further 51 in the morning, before Dayal was dismissed by CV Milind (4-39). This started a J&K collapse that saw them fall from 93 for 4 to 101 for 9, before being bowled out for 117.
The win was Hyderabad’s third in a row and pushed them above Andhra into first place.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo