Thiruvanathapuram: A fighting unbeaten 91 by Salman Nizar propped up Kerala on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against Punjab at the St Xavier's College Ground at Thumba on Saturday. The hosts, who were reeling at 89/6 at one stage, were bowled out for 227 shortly after the tea break. Punjab were 46/2 in reply at stumps.
Medium-pacer M D Nidheesh sent back the Punjab openers Rohan Marwaha (16) and Sanvir Singh (1). Gurkeerat Mann (16 batting) and nightwatchman Mayank Markande (12 batting) were at the crease.
Salman added 79 for the seventh wicket in the company of Akshay Chandran (28) to stage Kerala's recovery. The left-hander put on 39 for the last wicket along with Nidheesh to take Kerala past the 200-run mark.
Nidheesh fell for a duck after facing 21 balls as Salman was left stranded on the verge of his maiden first-class hundred. His 157-ball knock was laced with 10 fours and two sixes.
Salman also bettered his previous highest first-class score of 77 made in the opening game against Delhi at the same venue.
Earlier, Kerala, who chose to bat on winning the toss, found Punjab pacers Siddharth Kaul (3/47) and Baltej Singh (3/33) too hot to handle. The new opening pair of Jalaj Saxena (0) and Mohammed Azharuddeen (8) was back in the hut inside five overs. Veteran Rohan Prem (2) too fell cheaply as Kerala slumped to 11/3.
Robin Uthappa (48) was the lone Kerala batsman to resist the Punjab attack in the morning session. Uthappa added 58 for the fourth wicket along with skipper Sachin Baby.
Uthappa smashed nine boundaries in his 53-ball knock. He was dismissed by Kaul before Sachin (9) and Vishnu Vinod (20) departed in quick succession.
Left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary too picked up three wickets for Punjab.
Kerala made three changes from the team which lost to Hyderabad in their last game. Azharuddeen came in for opener P Rahul, left-arm spinner Sijomon Joseph returned in place of Sandeep Warrier and Nidheesh replaced an injured K M Asif. Sandeep is away with the Indian 'A' squad touring New Zealand.
Kerala have just three points from four matches, while Punjab are leading the table with 18 points from four outings.
Brief scores: Kerala 227 in 75.2 overs (Salman Nizar 91 not out, Robin Uthappa 48; Baltej Singh 3/33, Vinay Choudhary 3/37, Siddharth Kaul 3/47) vs Punjab 46/2 in 12 overs (M D Nidheesh 2/15).
