Malappuram: Saurashtra failed to capitalise on the bolwing exploits of spinners Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Vandit Jivrajani as they slumped to 55 for six in their first innings in reply to Kerala's paltry 166 all out on the opening day of a Group C Ranji Trophy cricket match, here today.
Elecxting to bat, Kerala made a decent start with opener VA Jagadeesh (59 off 134 balls) striking a half century and along with Mohammed Azharuddeen putting on 52 runs for the opening stand.
But therafter, Jadeja (5/44) and Jivrajani (4/61) spun a web around the Kerala batsmen to bowl the hosts out for 166 in 62.2 overs.
Fabid Ahmed (25) is the other notable scorer for Kerala.
In response, Saurashtra had a horrendous outing with the bat as left-arm pacer KS Mohnish picked up four wickets for 27 runs to make life misery for the visitors.
Besides Mohnish, Rohan Prem (2/2) accounted for two Saurashtra batsmen.
Opener Mohsin Ahmedbhai Dodia (23) top-scored for Saurashtra.
Brief Scores:
Kerala: 166 all out in 62.2 overs (VA Jagadeesh 59; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 5/44, Vandit Jivrajani 4/61).
Saurashtra: 55 for six in 25 overs (Mohsin Ahmedbhai Dodia 23; KS Mohnish 4/27).
