Kerala have only pride to play for

Hyderabad were in sight of an innings victory at close on the third day of their South Zone Ranji Trophy match against Kerala at the National Fuel Complex Ground in Hyderabad on Friday. After being rolled over in the first innings for a disappointing 165, Kerala showed some spine the second time round, advancing to 210/4. With a day to spare, that still leaves the visitors 114 runs adrift of Hyderabad's huge first innings score of 489.

Renjith Menon was the sole beacon of light in Kerala's first innings, racing to 50 off 79 balls, inclusive of eight boundaries, before the wily Kanwaljit Singh, now in his 43rd year and his 20th domestic season, bowled him to terminate the innings in the 47th over. Kanwaljit finished with figures of 2/1 in the fourteen balls he bowled. Seamer NP Singh ripped through the late order to bag 4/70 while left arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju, who'd taken out the top three in the order last evening, added one more scalp to return figures of 4/49.

After Hyderabad had enforced the follow-on, Parth Satwalkar drew first blood, bowling MP Sorab in the fourth over. Varun Girilal (31) and Renjith Menon (49) showed some application, putting together a stand of 70 before both were prised out within five runs of each other by NP Singh. Ajay Kudua and Sunil Oasis strove to salvage Kerala's honour with a battling 86 run fourth wicket association. The loss of Kudua late in the day, trapped in front by Satwalkar for 61 (115 balls, 9 fours) was a major blow for the visitors. Oasis (39) held out until stumps in the company of B Ramprakash but the prospects look distinctly gloomy for Kerala.