Nidheesh wrecks Madhya Pradesh

Kerala captain Sachin Baby's smart decision to field first pays off as M.D. Nidheesh shines with a five-wicket haul.

Kerala did many things right on the first day and took control of the Ranji Trophy contest against Madhya Pradesh at the Sports Hub on Thursday.

Kerala captain Sachin Baby won the toss and chose to field under an overcast sky. M.D. Nidheesh obliged his skipper by picking up the sixth five-wicket haul (5/44) of his career as Madhya Pradesh folded for 160 runs.

Kerala’s makeshift opening pair of Akshay Chandran (22 batting) and Rohan Kunnummal (25 batting) stitched together an unbroken 54-run stand for the first wicket to put their side in command.

In the morning, Nidheesh and N.P. Basil made the ball shift off the seam regularly, and it drew a cautious response from the Madhya Pradesh openers.

However, Nidheesh induced the fatal edge from Harsh Gawali (7), which was snapped by wicketkeeper Azharuddeen. The medium pacer followed it up by bowling another beautiful delivery which forced an edge from Rajat Patidar (0).

Basil gave Himanshu Mantri (15) a working over and Nidheesh reaped the benefit in the next over by forcing an edge which was neatly taken by Baba Aparajith in the slips.

Harpreet Singh (5) missed the sweep and was trapped in front by Jalaj Saxena to leave MP tottering at 49 for four.