Kerala crushed Odisha by an innings and 36 runs in their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group-C match, which concluded at Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala today. This was second straight embarrassing defeat for Odisha, who lost their opening match against Gujarat by 10 wickets earlier.
Put into bat by Odisha skipper Subhranshu Satpathy, Kerala rode on a century each by Sachin Baby and Mohammed Azharuddeen to compile a healthy total of 404. In reply, Odisha made 225 in the first innings and 143 in the second after forced to follow on.
Opening batter Gourav Choudhary, who hails from Uttarakhand, was among the rare bright spots in a hapless Odisha show, scoring fifties in both the innings. He had slammed a century in their previous game against Gujarat. Odisha captain Senapati was the only other batter to score a half-century in the match. Odisha allrounder Soumya Ranjan Lenka made his First-Class debut in this game.
SCORECARD
KERALA (1st innings): Abhishek Nair c Lenka b Mohanty 0, Abhishek Nair c Dhuper b Yadav 11, Jalaj Saxena c Pattnaik b Yadav 0, Sachin Baby c Dhuper b Lenka 112, Vishnu Vinod (c) c Dhuper b Lenka 21, Salman Nizar lbw Biswal 21, Mohammed Azharuddeen (wk) not out 139, Aditya Sarwate c Dhuper b Mohanty 53, Abijith Praveen c Lenka b Yadav 14, Vaisakh Chandran lbw Rathva 1, MD Nidheesh st Dhuper b Rathva 15; Extras (b-6, lb-10, w-1) 17
Total (All out; 129.3 overs) 404
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (A Nair), 2-3 (Saxena), 3-18 (A Nair), 4-58 (Vinod), 5-101 (Nizar), 6-242 (Baby), 7-341 (Sarwate), 8-365 (Praveen), 9-380 (Chandran), 10-404 (Nidheesh)
Bowling: Rajesh Mohanty 22-7-81-2, Lalit Yadav 20-2-53-3, Soumya Lenka 16-3-57-2, Badal Biswal 32-5-93-1, Ninad Rathva 32.3-3-81-2, Shantanu Mishra 7-0-23-0.
ODISHA (1st innings): Shantanu Mishra lbw Saxena 32, Gourav Choudhary c Azharuddeen b Sarwate 50, Om T Munde lbw Sarwate 14, Subhranshu Senapati (c) b Saxena 50, Sandeep Pattnaik lbw Nidheesh 2, Ninad Rathva lbw Chandran 1, Rajesh Dhuper (wk) c Nizar b Chandran 34, Soumya Lenka b Chandran 0, Rajesh Mohanty c Nidheesh b Chandran 2, Lalit Yadav lbw Sarwate 37, Badal Biswal not out 1; Extras (lb-2) 2
Total (All out; 84.1 overs) 225
Fall of wickets: 1-60 (Mishra), 2-92 (Choudhary), 3-103 (Munde), 4-116 (Pattnaik), 5-125 (Rathva), 6-185 (Dhuper), 7-185 (Lenka), 8-185 (Senapati), 9-193 (Mohanty), 10-225 (Yadav)
Bowling: MD Nidheesh 11-2-35-1, Aditya Sarwate 27.1-9-56-3, Jalaj Saxena 24-3-76-2, Abijith Praveen 5-0-16-0, Vaisakh Chandran 17-2-40-4.
ODISHA (2nd innings, following on): Shantanu Mishra b Sarwate 2, Gourav Choudhary c sub (V Nayanar) b Saxena 53, Om T Munde lbw Chandran 9, Subhranshu Senapati (c) b Saxena 30, Sandeep Pattnaik c Praveen b Sarwate 14, Ninad Rathva st Azharuddeen b Saxena 10, Rajesh Dhuper (wk) lbw Saxena 2, Soumya Lenka lbw Saxena 5, Lalit Yadav not out 11, Rajesh Mohanty run out (Saxena) 0, Badal Biswal run out (Vinod) 0; Extras (b-6, nb-1) 7
Total (All out; 58.3 overs) 143
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Mishra), 2-29 (Munde), 3-100 (Senapati), 4-101 (Choudhary), 5-121 (Rathva), 6-125 (Dhuper), 7-127 (Pattnaik), 8-143 (Lenka), 9-143 (Mohanty), 10-143 (Biswal)
Bowling: MD Nidheesh 9-3-18-0, Aditya Sarwate 13.3-2-45-2, Vaisakh Chandran 14-0-32-1, Abijith Praveen 3-1-6-0, Jalaj Saxena 18-7-34-5, Vishnu Vinod 1-0-2-0.
Player of the Match: Mohammed Azharuddeen.
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PHOTO: Odisha batter Gourav Choudhary emotes after scoring his second fifty in their Ranji Trophy match against Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram on 20 October 2026.