Mohammed Azharuddeen’s drought-breaking third First Class century (139 not out) and lower order resurgence, followed by late strikes from the spinners enabled Kerala to seize complete control of the second day’s play in the Ranji Trophy match against Odisha at the Greenfield stadium here on Tuesday.
Kerala, resuming at the overnight total of 245 for six, batted nearly 45 overs on the second day. Azharuddeen and Aditya Sarvate (53) reached their personal landmarks while adding 99 runs for the seventh wicket to frustrate the visitors.
In the morning on a dry pitch, it was dutiful accumulation by both Azharuddeen and Sarvate, who was a tad more aggressive than his partner. Sarvate was the enforcer as he picked boundaries off the medium pacers Rajesh Mohanty and Lalit Yadav.
Azharuddeen, after playing himself in, showed streaks of aggression as he stroked Mohanty for two boundaries in an over to move to 96. Azhar reached the three figure mark by pushing Rajesh to mid off for a single.
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Sarvate fell caught behind off Rajesh post his fifty and Abhijith Praveen spooned a catch to Lenka off Lalit as Odisha made inroads after lunch. Ninad returned and dismissed both Vaisakh Chandran (1) and M.D. Nidheesh (15) to end the Kerala innings for 404.
The Odisha openers Shantanu Mishra and Gourav Choudhary punished the wayward medium pacer M.D. Nidheesh to start brightly. But Sarvate was accurate and troubled both batters.
The scoring was restricted to singles and Jalaj broke through when Shantanu offered no shot to a delivery and was adjudged leg before. Gourav, who batted fluently, fell soon after reaching his 50, tickling a ball to Azharuddeen behind the wicket. Sarvate trapped Om Munde (14) in front to leave Odisha struggling at 103 for three.
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 Soumya 112, Vishnu Vinod c Dhuper b Lenka 21, Salman Nizar lbw 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-61b-10, w-1): 17; Total (all out 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 20-2-53-1, 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 Senapathi (batting) 16, Sandeep Pattnaik (batting) 2; Total (for three wkts. in 43 overs): 114
Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-92, 3-103
Kerala bowling: Nidheesh 4-0-21-0, Sarvate 17-8-27-2, Jalaj 14-1-46-1, Praveen 4-0-12-0, Vaisakh 4-0-8-0
Published on Oct 19, 2026
