A 10-wicket haul for Jalaj Saxena for the match helped Kerala trounce Bihar by an innings and 169 runs on the second day of their Ranji Trophy match in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. With this victory, Kerala progressed to the quarterfinals of the competition after a hiatus of six years. 

Building on the resilient 150 by Salman Nizar, who guided the team to a massive 351 in the first innings, Kerala bowlers, led by office Saxena, blew away the Bihar challenge. The visitors lasted only 64.2 overs in both innings combined. They meekly surrendered for 64 shortly after lunch in the first innings. Following on, they folded for 118 in 41.1 overs.

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Following his first five-wicket haul for the match (5/19 in 7.1 overs), Saxena spun a web around the Bihar batters to take the second fifer (5/34 in 11.1 overs). Apart from a 45-run sixth-wicket partnership, the visitors offered little challenge. From 105/6, they were bowled out for 118 in eight overs. For Bihar, Sakibul Gani top-scored with 31 followe by their captain Veer Pratap Singh 30.

Earlier, a 70-run tenth-wicket partnership between Nizar and office Vaisakh Chandran helped the home team post an imposing 351 in the crunch match. Nizar went on to score his maiden 150, while Nidheesh remained unbeaten at 5. Nizar, the mainstay of the Kerala innings, added 149 runs along with tailenders. 

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Brief scores
Kerala 351 (Salman Nizar 150, Shoun Roger 59, Akshay Chandran 38, Nidheesh MD 30, Harsh Vikram Singh 2/40, Ghulam Rabbani 2/37, Sachin Kumar Singh 2/87) bt Bihar 64 (Jalaj Saxena 5/19, Nidheesh 2/23) & 118 (S Gani 31, VP Singh 30, Saxena 5/34, Aditya Sarwate 3/27).

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