Thiruvananthapuram: A fine hundred by Robin Uthappa and a sparkling 97 by P Rahul helped Kerala take the opening day's honours in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against Delhi at the St Xavier's College Ground at Thumba on Monday. The hosts ended they day on 276/3 after electing to bat.
Rahul and Jalaj Saxena provided a solid start for Kerala by adding 68 for the opening wicket. Saxena (32) was dismissed by Tejas Baroka.
Rahul and Uthappa were involved in a 118-run stand for the second wicket. Rahul missed out on a well deserved hundred as he was trapped in front of the wicket by Vikas Mishra. The left-hander hit 11 fours and a couple of sixes in his 174-ball knock.
Uthappa regained form after his struggles in the shorter formats and it augurs well for Kerala.
He made 102 before being dismissed by Pradeep Sangwan in the final over of the day. The right-hander's 221-ball knock contained seven fours and three sixes. Captain Sachin Baby (36 batting) and Uthappa added 90 for the third wicket.
Earlier, Kerala handed first class debut to pacer K M Asif, while left-arm spinner K S Monish returned to the Ranji team after a gap of two years.
Brief scores: Kerala 276/3 in 89.1 overs (Robin Uthappa 102 off 221 balls, Ponnam Rahul 97 off 174 balls, Pradeep Sangwan 1/31 in 9.1 overs, Tejas Baroka 1/62 in 19 overs, Vikas Mishra 1/45 in 19 overs) vs Delhi
Other matches:
At Jaipur: Team Rajasthan 1st Innings 256/9 (Ashok Menaria 60, Mahipal Lomror 60, Siddarth Kaul 3/68) vs Punjab
At Vijaywada: Andhra 1st Innings 211 (Hanuma Vihari 83 off 155 balls, Aditya Sarwate 4/50 in 18 overs) vs Vidarbha 1st Innings 26/0.
At Hyderabad: Hyderabad 1st Innings 233 in 88 overs (Kolla Sumanth 69, Piyush Chawla 3/61 in 16 overs).
