Spinners Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Vandit Jivrajani grabbed six and four wickets respectively as Saurashtra sniffed victory in their Ranji Trophy cricket match against Kerala here today.
Saurashtra, who resumed the third day at 55/6, conceded a nine-run first innings lead to Kerala as they were all out for 157 in the post lunch session of the third day in reply to the home team's first innings total of 166.
The third day's play, which saw 15 wickets falling, turned out to be an eventful one with Saurashtra skittling out Kerala for 105 in just 41 overs with left-arm spinner Jadeja leading the charge with a haul of 6/59.
Jadeja was well supported by off-spinner Jivrajani who returned with figures of 4/31 as the visiting bowlers spun a web around Kerala batsmen in the home side's second innings.
Only four Kerala batsmen could cross double digit figures with number eight Akshay Chandran top-scoring with an unbeaten on 32.
Set a target of 115 for a win, Saurashtra ended the day at 16 for one in nine overs with opener Mohsin Ahmedbhai Dodia dismissed for one. The other opener Avi Barot and wicketkeeper Sagar Jogiyani were batting on eight and seven respectively when the stumps were drawn for the day.
Saurashtra now need 99 more runs to win the match on the final day tomorrow with nine second innings wickets in hand.
Brief Scores:
Kerala: 166 & 105 all out in 41 overs (Akshay Chandran not out; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 6/59, Vandit Jivrajani 4/31).
Saurashtra: 157 in 60.4 overs (Samarth Vyas 54 not out; Karaparambil Monish 6/81) & 16/1 in 9 overs.
