Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala took control of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match against Services at the St Xavier's College, Ground, on Wednesday.
After Sachin Baby's 159 and captain Sijomon Joseph's 55 took them to a first innings total of 327, Kerala reduced Services to 167/6 at stumps on the second day. The visitors trail by 160 runs.
Barring opener Shubham Rohilla and No. 3 batter Ravi Chouhan, the rest of the Services batsmen found the going tough. Rohilla made 31, while Chouhan hit a 114-ball 50.
Off-spinner Jalaj Saxena and Vaisakh Chandran picked up a couple of wickets each for Kerala. Sijomon and M D Nidheesh scalped one each.
Earlier, resuming on 254/6, the overnight pair of Baby and Sijomon took the home side to 311.
The two added 131 for the seventh wicket. Sijomon hit six fours in his 182-ball knock.
Baby was run out after a memorable innings. The southpaw's 308-ball knock was studded with 12 fours and a six.
Kerala lost their last four wickets for 16 runs.
Brief scores: Kerala 327 in 121 overs (Sachin Baby 159, Sijomon Joseph 55, Salman Nizar 42; Poonam Poonia 2/40, Diwesh Pathania 2/42, Mohit Rathee 2/65) vs Services 167/6 in 53 overs (Ravi Chouhan 50; Vaisakh Chandran 2/30, Jalaj Saxena 2/50).
