For much of the last two days, the wicket at the Keenan Stadium was a lot flatter than the road from the Ranchi airport to this city of steel. Virat Singh and Aditya Singh showed steely resolve to make use of that batting paradise.

They both scored hundreds, put on a mammoth partnership for the sixth wicket for Jharkhand, and almost batted Kerala out of the Ranji Trophy match. The host’s first innings ended only off the second-last ball of the second day, for 587.

It was indeed a long day in the field for Kerala. That one of its bowlers, seamer Edhen Apple Tom, could not even take the field after getting injured, didn’t help either. It meant more workload for the other bowlers, who were tormented by the sheer grit and patience of Virat (108, 264b, 9×4) and Aditya (147, 278b, 17×4). The duo resumed at the overnight score of 289 for five and remained unseparated at lunch. As they were at tea.

Aditya was the first to reach three figures. And it was his maiden hundred in senior cricket.

“I had scored hundreds in age-group cricket, but scoring a First Class hundred is indeed a different thing,” the spinning all-rounder said. “And I am glad that I could build that big partnership with the captain.”

The partnership was worth 227. “After losing four wickets quickly on the first day, our aim was to bat at least till the drinks break, and then we wanted to stay there till lunch,” the skipper said.

The partnership ended when Vaisakh Chandran induced an edge with a ball that turned and had Virat caught at slip. The off-spinner went on to pick up his second five-wicket haul in Ranji Trophy.

The final session saw the dead track responding a bit to spin.

That isn’t good news for Kerala, of course.

The scores: Jharkhand — 1st Innings: Shikhar Mohan b Vaisakh 143, Sharandeep Singh b Jalaj 33, Utkarsh Singh c Baby b Jalaj 71, Virat Singh c Baby b Vaisakh 108, Robin Minz b Vaisakh 10, Kounain Quraishi c Baby b Vaisakh 10, Aditya Singh b Sarwate 147, Sahil Raj b Sarwate 19, Manishi Singh c Azharuddeen b Jalaj 20, Sushant Mishra lbw b Vaisakh 18, Saurabh Shekhar (not out) 0; Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-1): 8; Total (in 179.5 overs): 587.

Fall of wickets: 1-87, 2-250, 3-252, 4-269, 5-279, 6-506, 7-534, 8-549, 9-570.

Kerala bowling: Nidheesh 26-3-93-0, Edhen 10-1-45-0, Jalaj 51.5-12-126-3, Sarwate 36-6-116-2, Vaisakh 49-6-166-5, Abhishek 1-0-11-0, Vishnu 4-1-10-0, Baby 2-0-13-0.

As the rain clouds dissipated, so did the batters’ hesitation, and Assam turned the tables on the second day of its Ranji Trophy round one match against Punjab at the New PCA Stadium here on Monday.

Denish Das (103, 186b, 15×4) and Sibsankar Roy (143 n.o., 295b, 20×4, 1×6) made the most of easing conditions and their 168-run partnership, which began at 23 for three on the opening day, catapulted Assam to 373.

After not adding a run for the opening 34 minutes, Sibsankar lapped up two overpitched deliveries from Umesh Yadav for straight- and square-driven boundaries. Though a flick off Gurnoor Brar was the only early boundary for Denish, he pocketed plenty by running between the wickets.

Stroke-filled: Denish’s 103 included 15 fours.
| Photo Credit:
FILE PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR

It was the onset of spinners that really allowed them to assert control. Sibsankar pranced down to Emanjot Singh Chahal twice to hoist down the ground for 10 runs.

Denish was examined by Gurnoor’s short-ball ploy, with the traps set at deep fine-leg, deep square-leg, short-leg, short mid-wicket and short mid-on. Denish refrained from any extravagant shot and navigated the period.

However, shortly after his 181-ball century, he took a slightly longer stride on a defence, got an inside edge onto his pad and was caught at silly point.

Sibsankar lofted Harpreet down the ground to reach three figures in 204 balls. He was mindful not to let it slip away like Denish and allowed Sarupam Purkayastha (66, 87b, 7×4, 3×6) to take charge in their 92-run sixth-wicket partnership that prolonged Punjab’s toil.

Umesh picked three of the last five wickets, for which Assam could add only 42 runs, to complete his five-wicket haul (five for 70) and ensure Punjab did not have to field the entire day.

Openers Vihaan Malhotra and Harnoor Pannu safely played out two overs before stumps, and three no balls from Dipjyoti Saikia made sure Punjab had something on the board.

The scores: Assam — 1st innings: Nibir Deka c Salil b Gurnoor 0, Rishav Das b Umesh 0, Rajveer Singh c Salil b Umesh 11, Denish Das c Sidhu b Emanjot 103, Sibsankar Roy (not out) 143, Sumit Ghadigoankar lbw b Harpreet 28, Sarupam Purkayastha c Salil b Gurnoor 66, Amlanjyoti Das b Umesh 0, Mukhtar Hussain c Harjas b Umesh 11, Dipjyoti Saikia b Emanjot 4, Mohit Thakur b Umesh 1; Extras (lb-2, nb-1, w-3): 6; Total (117 overs): 373.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-23, 4-191, 5-239, 6-331, 7-332, 8-348, 9-367.

Punjab bowling: Gurnoor 23-3-85-2, Umesh 24-7-70-5, Harpreet 24-4-88-1, Ramandeep 2-0-8-0, Emanjot 27-7-68-2, Harjas 13-1-43-0, Uday 4-1-9-0.

Punjab — 1st innings: Vihaan Malhotra (batting) 0, Harnoor Pannu (batting) 0; Extras (nb-3): 3; Total (for no loss in two overs): 3.

Assam bowling: Mukhtar 1-1-0-0, Dipjyoti 1-0-3-0.