It was a Sunday to remember for Auqib Nabi. He chipped in with a 32-ball-30 to guide Jammu and Kashmir to 280 before claiming a five-for to put his team in the driver’s seat in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal fixture against Kerala.
As a few hundred chanted his name at the MCA Stadium, an accurate and nippy Nabi (5 for 36) ran through Kerala’s top-order before Jalaj Saxena (67, 78b, 6×4, 3×6) and Salman Nizar put up a fight to help Kerala end the day at 200 for 9. However, it is still trailing by 80 runs.
Nabi made good use of the conditions which saw Kerala lose three quick wickets of Rohan Kunnumal, Shaun Roger, and captain Sachin Baby. Sachin, who had just 11 runs on the board, saw a yorker crash into his stumps.
Though Jalaj and Akshay Chandran overcame the jitters to add 94 valuable runs for the fourth wicket, J&K captain Paras Dogra shuffled his bowlers frequently to break the partnership. Chandran held the fort, while Saxena dealt in boundaries and sixes before he mistimed a short ball to be caught at deep fine leg.
J&K bounced back as off-spinner Sahil Lotra struck with the fourth delivery of his opening over, dismissing Chandran to add to Kerala’s woes.
In the final session, seamer Yudhvir Singh trapped Mohammad Azharuddeen leg-before before dismissing Aditya Sarvate. Reeling at 137 for 7, breaching the 200-run mark looked like an uphill task for Kerala. But Salman Nizar came to the rescue with an unbeaten 75-ball-49.
When the pitch eased out, Nizar paired with MD Needhish to stitch together a 53-run stand for the eighth wicket and reduce the deficit as much as possible, before a return catch by Lotra cut Nidheesh’s stay short.
At the fag end, Nabi claimed a fifer – his eighth in First Class cricket – cleaning up NP Basil. As Nabi walked off the field, his teammates congratulated him for the efforts with the ball and perhaps, also for adding those crucial runs with the willow, which came in handy.