A frustratingly familiar script unfolded again for Kerala at the Narendra Modi stadium here on Monday. For the third time this season, Kerala allowed the opposition’s lower-order to fight back and wrest away the hard-earned advantage.

An unbeaten, counterattacking 111-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Urvil Patel (63 batting, 67b, 7x4, 1x6) and Vishal Jayswal (50 batting, 83b, 3x4, 2x6) was the latest to hurt Kerala as Gujarat ended the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match at 300 for five.

Soon after tea, Kerala had Gujarat in a spot of bother at 189 for five when Jaymeet Patel (one) was stumped by Mohammed Azharuddeen off Aditya Sarvate. But the visiting side let Gujarat off the hook when it failed to grab the chances and wilted under the calculated assault by Urvil and Vishal.

Rohan Kunnummal showed poor judgement while running back and failed to reach a skier from Vishal off Vaisakh Chandran when the batter was on 33. Azharuddeen fumbled when Urvil, on 32, stepped out to attack Sarvate. Urvil and Vishal capitalised on these errors to take their side to a position of strength in the final session.

Earlier, Kerala had crawled back into the contest in the post-lunch session, picking up four wickets to reduce the host to 182 for four. The strikes included that of top-scorer Aarya Desai (95, 132b, 6x4, 3x6), who in a hurry to reach his hundred top-edged a wild slog and was caught by Vishnu Vinod off Vaisakh.

In the morning, openers Aarya and Abhishek Desai played fluently against the Kerala bowlers who found little help from the track. However, a better disciplined show with the ball in the second session choked the flow runs which forced the Gujarat batters to take the risks, which ultimately led to their downfall.

The scores: Gujarat — 1st innings: Abhishek Desai c Rohan b Nidheesh 42, Aarya Desai c Vishnu b Vaisakh 95, Vedant Trivedi c Rohan b Basil 9, Manan Hingrajia c Azharuddeen b Jalaj 33, Jaymeet Patel st. Azharuddeen b Sarvate 1, Urvil Patel (batting) 63, Vishal Jayswal (batting) 50; Extras (b-4, lb-2, wd-1): 7; Total (for five wkts. in 83 overs): 300.

Fall of wickets: 1-116, 2-138, 3-180, 4-182, 5-189.

Kerala bowling: Nidheesh 20-3-59-1, Basil 13-3-50-1, Jalaj 24-1-60-1, Sarvate 11-0-68-1, Vaisakh 15-2-57-1.

Toss: Gujarat.