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.
Chattisgarh lost their last four wickets for 15 runs as Services pipped them by 18 runs in Mumbai, on a day that saw them shutting shop in the final session in hopes of collecting first-innings lead points.
Openers Sahil Gupta (87) and Abhimanyu Chauhan (52) put up an 80-run partnership before the former was dismissed by Diwesh Pathania. From the other end, left-arm spinner Vikas Yadav’s three wickets derailed Chattisgarh’s middle order. At tea Chattisgarh had four wickets in hand, needing 75 runs more to win, but Pathania returned to tear through the tail to take Services home to a memorable win, finishing with figures of 4 for 67. The loss meant Chattisgarh continued to languish at the bottom of the table while Services clinched their first win of the season.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo