Baba Aparajith underlined the importance of experience with a critical hand of 81 not out to rescue Kerala on the first day of its Elite Group-B match against Madhya Pradesh in Indore on Sunday.
With Kerala in danger of being bowled out for less than 200, Aparajith produced a calm, methodical innings, keeping the scoreboard ticking with regular strike rotation, while also finding the boundary with style on both sides of the wicket to raise his fourth fifty of this Ranji Trophy campaign.
“I feel it was an important innings because the team was under pressure and it (the wicket) was doing a lot in the morning session,” Aparajith told Sportstar after day’s play. “The spinners had a lot more help than the fast bowlers in the first session because it was slightly on the softer side.”
The batter also lauded Abhishek J. Nair and Ankit Sharma, who put on 54 together in the morning session.
Abhishek and Abhijith Praveen V., Aparajith’s partner in stitching together Kerala’s fightback, were both making their First-Class debuts, and he was full of praise for the pair.
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“Both of them played really well,” he said. “It’s not easy to get a start on your debut itself, but both of them got it and both of them batted beautifully.”
He played first-hand witness to Abhijith’s knock in particular, as the pair combined to put on 122 from 253 balls to take Kerala from 105 for six to 227 for seven after surviving a couple of early run-out chances.
“I was just trying to ease him a bit because it’s his first game — that is the only thing I did. He was handling the rest of it beautifully. He was having fun, actually. After the first couple of balls, he had a lot of fun,” Aparajith said about the partnership.
That guiding role is something Aparajith, an established face on the First-Class circuit, is taking up in a Kerala side that has a host of young batters. “It is important that I share some of my knowledge with the younger boys also,” he explained. “I have gone through it, I know how they feel right now. So it is important that I ease them up a bit and share some knowledge with them.”
Aparajith will resume tomorrow morning with Sreehari S Nair – Kerala’s third debutant of the match – for company, and while he will no doubt be looking to convert to three figures, he has his priorities set.
“I feel it is important to bat some time in the morning. We will see how the morning session goes,” he said. “It is important to play the first 20 minutes. Once we cross the 20 minutes, then we will get an idea about what to do. But as far as our team is concerned, we take it session-by-session, over-by-over.”
Published on Nov 16, 2025