Kerala captain Sachin Baby was obviously a relieved man after his team secured its first win in this Ranji Trophy season.
“We needed this win badly. We had lost a couple of close games which I thought we should have won. It was important for us to win in our home conditions. I had faith in our spinners and though the target wasn’t big I backed my boys to bowl them out. Jalaj bowled superbly in the second innings. Salman Nizar played a mature innings in the first innings and Nidheesh bowled his heart out. It was a team effort. We have the momentum now and obviously we are confident of doing well in the other matches,” he said.
It was another day in office for Kerala’s second innings bowling hero Jalaj Saxena. “The wicket was helpful but it wasn’t that difficult to bat on. I varied my pace and mixed the deliveries to confuse the batsmen and it paid off. I am quite used to bowling long spells so I was ready to shoulder the burden,” said Jalaj who took his 20th fifth wicket haul in Ranji Trophy.
The all-rounder is hopeful that his lean patch with the bat will end and he will be contribute with good scores in the coming matches.
