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Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Jalaj, Joseph star as Kerala snatch victory

Jalaj Saxena flays the ball during his century MPCA

Left-arm orthodox spinner Sijomon Joseph took his maiden five-wicket haul to help Kerala notch up their second win of the season, a 131-run win against Rajasthan in Thumba.

Rajasthan were set 343 to win after Sachin Baby's counterattack - 30 off 16 balls - lifted Kerala's score from 217 for 2 to 250 for 5 in less than five overs on the morning of the final day. Overnight batsman Jalaj Saxena was unbeaten on 105 when Kerala declared; Sanju Samson couldn't add to his overnight score of 72, falling in the first over of the day.

Rajasthan's innings was plagued by recurring collapses. They had lost both openers withing seven balls of the start of their innings, before a 63-run stand between Robin Bist (70) and Rajesh Bishnoi (35) brought stability to the innings. But Joseph broke that stand and followed it up with the wicket of Ashok Menaria to reduce Rajasthan to 64 for 4 with more than 70 overs still to play. Nearly 40 of those overs were absorbed by the fifth-wicket pair of Bist and Mahipal Lomror (53) but the former's wicket brought yet another collapse - they fell from 160 for 4 to 190 for 9. Deepak Chahar and Aniket Choudhary then attempted a final resistance, batting out 62 balls and bringing Rajasthan close to pulling off a draw. But Joseph trapped him in front in the 84th over to seize the win for Kerala.

Jalaj, who made scores of 79 and 105* in the game, took two wickets in the second innings to also finish with a ten-wicket match-haul.

Jharkhand walked away with a bonus-point win against Haryana in Ranchi, after chasing their 80-run target without losing any wickets.

The win was set up by Shahbaz Nadeem, whose six-wicket haul inflicted a collapse on Haryana, who had begun the day on 141 for 4. Overnight batsmen Rajat Paliwal (93) and Rohit Sharma (71) added 107 runs on the final day before Nadeem dismissed the former, seven short of a 14th hundred. Haryana lost the rest of their wickets for the addition of only 48 runs and were bowled out for 296, having conceded a first-innings lead of 217.

Jharkhand promoted wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan, who struck an unbeaten 46 off 45 balls and took them home in the company of Nazim Siddiqui (24*).

Ranji Trophy

Group A
TeamMWLDPTNRR
KNTKA6402320.479
DELHI6303270.333
MAHA6221160.084
HYD621116-0.156
RLYS623114-0.312
UP603250.508
ASSAM60422-0.977
Group B
TeamMWLDPTNRR
GUJ6501340.097
KER6510310.636
SAU6312260.245
J + K61419-0.077
HRYNA61419-0.506
JHK61418-0.049
RAJ60246-0.294
Group C
TeamMWLDPTNRR
MP631221-0.116
MUM6204210.228
AP6105190.326
BRODA6114160.508
TN601511-0.112
ODSA60246-0.648
TPURA60244-0.426
Group D
TeamMWLDPTNRR
VIDAR6402310.358
BENG6213230.367
PNJB6222180.609
HP6114140.3
CGR613213-0.514
SVCS612310-0.273
GOA60246-0.7