Kerala registered their first win of the season as they crushed Services by nine wickets on the fourth and final day of their Group C Ranji Trophy cricket match here today.
Kerala shot out Services for 174 from 45.4 overs in their second innings after being forced to follow on with Akshay Chandran returning with figures of 6/39.
The visiting side added 51 runs from the 13.4 overs they batted today after resuming the day at 123 for 6 at the Conor Vayal Stadium, Tellicherry.
That left Kerala to score just 10 runs to win and they completed the formalities an hour into the morning session of the final day though they falling narrowly short of picking up a bonus point.
The home side lost Abhishek Hegde (0) to the first ball of the fourth innings, caught at slip while pressing forward to defend the left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar.
Kerala took six points from the match -- their penultimate league game -- and they remained technically in the hunt for a knock-out berth.
Brief Scores:
Kerala 483 and 10 for 1 beat Services 318 and (f/o) 174 all out in 45.4 overs (Nakul Verma 40 not out, Saurabh Kumar 41, Akshay Chandran 6/39) by nine wickets.
