A clinical Kerala outpaced the weather to wrap up a comprehensive innings and 36-run win over Odisha in their Ranji Trophy match at the Sports Hub, Greenfield stadium here on Wednesday. 

The rain did arrive in the afternoon, but it was too late to save Odisha which succumbed to the guiles of Jalaj Saxena in the first session. Kerala only needed 23.3 overs on the fourth morning to wrap up Odisha’s innings at 143.

Jalaj bowled with control and varied the pace of the deliveries on a slightly helpful pitch to bamboozle Odisha’s batters. Aditya Sarvate and Vaisakh Chandran played their part by maintaining the pressure with their accurate bowling.

The overnight pair of Sandeep Pattnaik and Ninad Rathva showed good temperament to resist the Kerala attack for more than an hour. The breakthrough came when Jalaj foxed Ninad (10) with a slower delivery and lured him out of his crease for Azharuddeen to complete the stumping.

Rajesh Dhuper (two) was then trapped in front off a quicker ball from Jalaj. The off-spinner took his fifth wicket when Soumya Lenka (five) missed the slog sweep and was dismissed leg before. Sandeep’s (14) vigil came to an end rather tamely as he spooned a catch to Abhijith Praveen off Sarvate. 

Two calamitous run outs involving Lalit Yadav — after Jalaj’s 37th five-wicket haul in First Class cricket — brought a swift end to the innings  Lalit came in and smote Jalaj for a six to begin aggressively. But he wasn’t given many opportunities by the Kerala bowlers to play the big shots and his anxiety to retain the strike resulted in the run outs of both Rajesh Mohanty and Badal Biswal.

It was a much needed win for Kerala which will play its next match against Bengal while Odisha suffered its second straight defeat and will go home to face Services.

The scores: Kerala — 1st innings: Abhishek P. Nair c Lenka b Rajesh 0, Abhishek J. Nair c Dhuper b Lalit 11, Jalaj Saxena c Pattnaik b Lalit 0, Sachin Baby c Dhuper b Lenka 112, Vishnu Vinod c Dhuper b Lenka 21, Salman Nizar lbw b Badal 21, Mohammed Azharuddeen (not out) 139, Aditya Sarvate c Dhuper b Rajesh 53, Abhijith Praveen c Lenka b Lalit 14, Vaisakh Chandran lbw b Ninad 1, M.D. Nidheesh st Dhuper b Ninad 15; Extras (b-7, 1b-9, w-1): 17; Total (in 129.3 overs): 404.

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-3, 3-18, 4-58, 5-101, 6-242, 7-341, 8-365, 9-380.

Odisha bowling: Rajesh 22-7-81-2, Lalit 20-2-53-3, Lenka 16-3-57-2, Badal 32-5-93-1, Ninad 32.3-3-81-2, Shantanu 7-0-23-0.

Odisha — 1st innings: Shantanu Mishra lbw b Jalaj 32, Gourav Choudhary c Azharuddeen b Sarvate 50, Om Munde lbw b Sarvate 14, Subhranshu Senapati b Jalaj 50, Sandeep Pattnaik lbw b Nidheesh 2, Ninad Rathva lbw b Vaisakh 1, Rajesh Dhuper c Nizar b Vaisakh 34, Soumya Lenka b Vaisakh 0, Rajesh Mohanty c Nidheesh b Vaisakh 2, Lalit Yadav lbw b Sarvate 37, Badal Biswal (not out) 1; Extras (1b-2): 2; Total (in 84.1 overs): 225.

Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-92, 3-103, 4-116, 5-125, 6-185, 7-185, 8-185, 9-193.

Kerala bowling: Nidheesh 11-2-35-1, Sarvate 28.1-10-56-3, Jalaj 23-2-76-2, Abhijith 5-0-16-0, Vaisakh 17-2-40-4.

Odisha — 2nd innings: Shantanu Mishra b Sarvate 2, Gourav Choudhary c sub b Jalaj 53, Om Munde lbw b Vaisakh 9, Subhranshu Senapati b Jalaj 30, Sandeep Pattnaik c Abhijith b Sarvate 14, Ninad Rathva st. Azharuddeen b Jalaj 10, Rajesh Dhuper lbw b Jalaj 2, Soumya Lenka lbw b Jalaj 5, Lalit Yadav (not out) 11, Rajesh Mohanty run out 0, Badal Biswal run out 0; Extras (b-6, nb-1): 7, Total (in 58.3 overs): 143.

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-29, 3-100, 4-101, 5-121, 6-125, 7-127, 8-143, 9-143.