Keralas Rohan Prem will hope to complete a well-deserved century on Day Two of the Group B Plate match against Services on Tuesday. On the opening day of the season,the Kerala middle-order batsman remained unbeaten on 98. On a slow-paced wicket,Keralas batsmen valued self-preservation over flashy stroke play as the team finished at 212 for three. Six players made their debut for Services,a team which was slapped a one-year ban after refusing to play away in Srinagar. New-ball bowler Suraj Yadav,one of those who made his debut on Monday,and Nishan Singh failed to trouble the Kerala openers Vasudevan Jagadeesh and Abhishek Hegde. On this wicket,the short ball did not trouble the Kerala openers. Services skipper Yashpal Singh introduced left-arm spinner Amrinder Singh in the 11th over of the innings. The spinner got his team the breakthrough. Hegde,the more aggressive of the two openers,was caught at mid-off. Jagadeeshs subsequent partnership with former Kerala skipper Robin Fernandez did not yield many runs as Suraj Yadav started to find the inswinger with regularity. Jagadeesh was soon dismissed,trapped leg before for 29,with the team total on 63. This dismissal brought former India U-19 batsman Prem to the crease.Wait and watch Prem was calm and collected at the wicket. He waited for the wide or loose ball and duly punished it. When on 55 he rode on his luck when wicketkeeper Sarabjit Singh fluffed a stumping off the bowling of Amrinder. Meanwhile,Fernandez moved to his half-century but was never in complete control of his innings. But he provided good support to Prem and these batsmen saw through the second session. Yadav then came back to dismiss Fernandez. Yadav bowled tirelessly and delivered 22 overs. It was his sharp in-cutter that bowled Fernandez. Prem,now paired up with Sreekumar Nair and marched steadily towards a century. A four in the penultimate over saw him move to 98 and a single from his partner in the last over gave him three balls to reach the landmark. That though was not to be. Prem will now look forward to reach his century on Tuesday.
