Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 4: Kerala bowled out Jammu and Kashmir for a meagre toal of 79 runs in the second innings to register 158 runs victory in the Ranji Trophy Group B match which concluded at the St Xavier’s College ground, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala today.
Akshay KC was the wrecker in chief, who bagged five important wickets.
Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir, resuming at an overnight score of 56/7 added only 23 runs before being bowled out. Akshay picked up the last three wickets fell on the concluding day.
Jammu and Kashmir skipper Parvez Rasool scalped 11 wickets in the match, with 6 in the first innings and 5 in the second.
With three wins and a loss from the four matches played so far, Kerala retained their prospects for the quarter-final stages while J&K suffered three losses and a draw from similar matches.
Meanwhile, Saurashtra beat Jharkhand by six wickets in another contest of Ranji Trophy group-B, bagging six points and move upto third in the points table.
After following on, Jharkhand scored 341 in their second innings, courtesy a whirlwind 99 off 75 balls by Nazim Siddiqui, who hit 13 boundaries and two sixes.
Wicketkeeper Sumit Kumar scored 108 off 147 balls with 12 boundaries and five sixes. Dharmendra Jadeja took 4 for 108.
Chasing a meagre target of 59, Saurashtra achieved the target in 14 overs despite losing four wickets including Cheteshwar Pujara (3).
Brief Scores
In Pune: Saurashtra 553/9 decl and (target 59) 59/4.
Jharkhand 270 and (follow on) 341 (Sumit Kumar 108, Nazim Siddiqui 99). Saurashtra won by 6 wickets.
Points: Saurashtra 6; Jharkhand 0
In Valsad: Gujarat 236 and 281/9 decl
Harayana 157 and (target 361) 122 (Suddharth Desai 5/46, Piyush Chawla 5/44). Gujarat won by 238 runs.
Points: Gujarat 6; Haryana 0.
In Thumba
Kerala 219 and 191.
Jammu and Kashmir 173 and (target 238) 79 (KC Akshay 5/21). Kerala won by 158 runs.
Points: Kerala 6; Jammu and Kashmir 0.
Follow our WhatsApp channel