PANAJI
The Colonel CK Nayudu Trophy Elite (Under-23, four-day) cricket match between Kerala and Goa got underway on Friday at the St Xavier's KCA Cricket Academy in Thiruvananthapuram.
Opting to bowl after winning the toss, Goa's bowlers delivered a disciplined performance on the opening day to dismiss Kerala for 255 in 85.4 overs. At stumps, Goa had begun their reply cautiously and reached 15 without loss in two overs.
Viraj Naik was unbeaten on 10, while Shardul Shet remained not out on four. Goa still trails by 240 runs with all ten wickets intact.
Kerala were reduced to 44 for 2 early before Varun Nayanar (64) and Shoun Roger (101; 14 fours, 1 six) steadied the innings with a crucial 130-run partnership for the third wicket. After Nayanar was dismissed by Yash Kasvankar, Kerala once again lost momentum as Goa struck at regular intervals to trigger a collapse.
Yash Kasvankar emerged as Goa's most effective bowler, claiming 4 wickets for 41 runs. New-ball bowler Samarth Rane also played a key role, picking up 4 for 58 and cleaning up the Kerala tail quickly. The remaining wickets were shared by Kaustubh Pingulkar and Anuj Yadav, who took one wicket each.
Brief scores: Kerala, 1st innings: 255 all out in 85.4 overs (Akshay 11, Abhishek Nair 18, Varun Nayanar 64, Shoun Roger 101, Ahmmed Imran 0, Asif Ali 9, Abijith Praveen 6, Jishnu A. 27, JS Anuraj 8, Kailas Nair 2, Pavan Raj 3; Extras 6; Chigurupati Venkata 31-0, Samarth Rane 58-4, Kaustubh Pingulkar 54-1, Anuj Yadav 67-1, Yash Kasvankar 41-4)
Goa, 1st innings: 15 without loss in 2 overs (Viraj Naik 10*, Shardul Shet 4*, Extras 1; Abijith Praveen 11-0, Pavan Raj 4-0)
