Ranji Trophy: Sachin Baby earns Kerala draw with Rajasthan

Jaipur: An unbeaten 81 by former captain Sachin Baby helped Kerala salvage a draw against Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy match.

Facing a daunting target of 395 for a win, Kerala finished their second innings at 299 for 8 wickets.

Medium-pacer M D Nidhish supported Sachin by blocking 38 deliveries for his 2 runs. The pair stitched together 30 runs from 104 balls for the ninth wicket to fend off Rajasthan bowlers.

Captain Sanju Samson made a quick-fire 69 off 53 balls. He and wicket-keeper Rahul P, the other batter who scored a half-century, combined to score over-run-a-ball 89 (in 71 balls).

Later Sanju partnered with Sachin and the pair made 44 off 42 deliveries, but the target was way too high for Kerala.

For Rajasthan, left-arm spinner Manav Suthar took three wickets.

Earlier, riding on Deepak Hooda's unbeaten 155 (off 155 balls) and a fighting 75 (off 104 balls) by wicket-keeper-batsman Kunal Rathore, Rajasthan posted an imposing 363 eight in their second innings.

They added 86 runs on the last day of the match for the loss of three wickets.

Picking up from where they left on the third day, Hooda and Rathore further frustrated Kerala bowlers in the morning. Before Sijomon Joseph accounted for Rathore, the pair had added 167 runs from 188 balls.

Off-spinner Jalaj Saxena returned with the figures of 3/93 while Sijomon and Akshay Chandran picked up two wickets each.

While the match ended in a draw, Rajasthan picked up three points due to the first-innings lead and Kerala managed to get one point.

Kerala play Chhattisgarh next on December 27.

Brief scores:

Rajasthan 337 & 363/8 (Deepak Hooda 155, KS Rathore 75, A Tomar 68) drew with Kerala 306 & 299/8 (Sachin Baby 81 (n.o), Sanju Samson 69, Rahul P 64, M Suthar 3-103).