Kumar Kartikeya Singh and Aryan Pandey’s dogged display of final hour batting was enough to earn Madhya Pradesh a draw against Kerala in their Elite Group-B match at the Holkar Stadium here on Wednesday.
Kerala’s batting dominance was led by the experienced Sachin Baby and B. Aparajith’s, but it was the youth of Sreehari Nair and Eden Apple Tom that bowled it to the precipice of victory on the final day.
Sreehari dominated early proceedings, bowling 19 overs unchanged from the Madhavrao Scindia End in his first spell, and showing guile as he chipped away on a relatively docile pitch.
He induced Harsh Gawli to give a catch to cover early, and Yash Dubey followed after playing down the wrong line.
Himanshu Mantri was caught at short leg, while Harpreet Singh Bhatia was felled by one that kept low.
M.P. sunk further when V. Abhijith Praveen punished Shubham Sharma and Rishabh Chouhan’s mix-up, leaving the home skipper short of his ground.
Chouhan and Saransh Jain then looked to steady proceedings.
The pair reached tea, but Chouhan fell soon after to Eden’s nip-backer. Saransh also fell after nicking Eden.
M.D. Nidheesh then came on to bowl, and struck immediately, squaring up Mohammad Arshad Khan to leave M.P. eight down.
Surviving
With time running out, Kartikeya and Aryan battled, surviving 119 balls. Kerala tried both pace and spin with attacking fields, but it proved insufficient as the pair helped MP seal a point.
Earlier in the day, Baby and Aparajith became Kerala’s first centurions of the season.
Ahammed Imran and Abhijith struck a few boundaries before Kerala called time on its innings on 314 for five.
However, Kerala may now look at that phase and wonder whether an earlier declaration could have helped it convert three crucial points to six.
The scores:
Kerala — 1st innings: 281.
Madhya Pradesh — 1st innings: 192.
Kerala — 2nd innings: Rohan Kunnummal lbw b Kartikeya 7, Abhishek J. Nair c Chouhan b Kuldeep 30, Sachin Baby (not out) 122, Mohammed Azharuddeen c Harpreet b Saransh 2, B. Aparajith retd. hurt 105, Ahammed Imran lbw b Saransh 24, V. Abhijith Praveen c Aryan b Saransh 11, Ankit Sharma (not out) 0; Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb-1, w-3): 13; Total (for five wkts. decl. in 84 overs): 314.
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-79, 3-82, 4-300, 5-314.
M.P. bowling: Aryan 13-3-48-0, Kartikeya 23-5-56-1, Arshad 15-0-68-0, Saransh 17-1-61-3, Kuldeep 16-1-72-1.
Madhya Pradesh — 2nd innings: Harsh Gawli c sub (Krishna) b Sreehari 0, Yash Dubey b Sreehari 19, Himanshu Mantri c sub (Krishna) b Sreehari 26, Shubham Sharma run out 18, Harpreet Singh Bhatia lbw b Sreehari 13, Rishabh Chouhan lbw b Eden 7, Saransh Jain c Azharuddeen b Eden 31, Aryan Pandey (not out) 23, Mohammad Arshad Khan c Kunnummal b Nidheesh 6, Kumar Kartikeya Singh (not out) 16; Extras (lb-8): 8; Total (for eight wkts. in 69 overs): 167.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-33, 3-52, 4-70, 5-78, 6-107, 7-114, 8-126.
Kerala bowling: Sreehari 30-13-51-4, Nidheesh 6-3-16-1, Ankit 21-4-55-0, Eden 10-3-33-2, Imran 2-1-4-0.
Published – November 19, 2025 08:50 pm IST
