Ranji Trophy 2025-26: Maharashtra’s Gurbani, Saxena rattle Kerala top order on rain-affected Day 2
An old scourge and an ex-teammate returned to torment Kerala on a rain-hit second day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match against Maharashtra at the Sports Hub, Greenfield Stadium on Thursday.
Rajneesh Gurbani, who blew away Kerala eight years ago in a Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match in Surat, took two quick wickets to put Kerala on the backfoot after a fine Maharashtra lower-order resistance in the extended post-lunch session.
Jalaj Saxena, in the first over after tea, took the wicket of opener Rohan Kunnummal (27) to leave Kerala in a spot of bother at 35 for three when rain forced play to be called off four balls later.
Only 35.5 overs of play were possible on the day that saw pre-match showers wipe out the entire first session. When play began at 12.10 p.m., Maharashtra’s overnight batters Vicky Ostwal and Ramakrishna Ghosh negotiated the Kerala attack without any fuss. The lengths that the Kerala medium pacers bowled were a trifle short to trouble the batters.
Kerala’s Sanju Samson is yet to bat in the first innings.
| Photo Credit:
Nirmal Harindran
Kerala’s Sanju Samson is yet to bat in the first innings.
| Photo Credit:
Nirmal Harindran
Both Ostwal and Ghosh added 59 runs for the eighth wicket. Left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma got the breakthrough when he found bounce to draw an edge from Ghosh (31), which was snapped up by Mohammed Azharuddeen. M.D. Nidheesh got his deserved fifth wicket when he had Gurbani (10) feathering a catch to Azharuddeen. Nedhumankuzhy Basil ended Ostwal’s (38) defiance by trapping him in front as Maharashtra was dismissed for 239.
Kunnummal started positively by clubbing Gurbani for two boundaries in the first over. He raced to 20 in quick time. However, Akshay Chandran struggled, and he was put out of his misery by Gurbani. The pacer then took a fine return catch to dismiss B. Aparajith, who got a leading edge while trying to play a flick shot. Rohan made the cardinal error of playing back to a faster ball from Jalaj and was trapped in front to leave Kerala in trouble.
Published on Oct 16, 2025
