For much of the last two days, the wicket at the Keenan Stadium was a lot flatter than the road from the Ranchi airport to this city of steel. Virat Singh and Aditya Singh showed steely resolve to make use of that batting paradise.
It was indeed a long day in the field for Kerala. That one of its bowlers, seamer Edhen Apple Tom, could not even take the field after getting injured, didn’t help either. As they were at tea. “And I am glad that I could build that big partnership with the captain.
It meant more workload for the other bowlers, who were tormented by the sheer grit and patience of Virat (108, 264b, 9×4) and Aditya (147, 278b, 17×4). The duo resumed at the overnight score of 289 for five and remained unseparated at lunch. The partnership was worth 227.
“I had scored hundreds in age-group cricket, but scoring a First Class hundred is indeed a different thing,” the spinning all-rounder said. “After losing four wickets quickly on the first day, our aim was to bat at least till the drinks break, and then we wanted to stay there till lunch,” the skipper said.
They both scored hundreds, put on a mammoth partnership for the sixth wicket for Jharkhand, and almost batted Kerala out of the Ranji Trophy match. The host’s first innings ended only off the second-last ball of the second day, for 587.