Nagwaswalla and Gaja wreck Kerala's lower order as Gujarat seize control in Ranji Trophy

Arzan Nagwaswalla (4-59) and Chintan Gaja (3-65) ran through Kerala’s lower order to put Gujarat firmly in command of their Elite Group C Ranji Trophy match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, November 4, 2026.

Gujarat declared their first innings at 534 for 9, and Kerala were bowled out for 279 soon after tea following a late collapse from 277 for 6; Nagwaswalla and Gaja each claimed two wickets with the second new ball to trigger that slide.

Kerala’s top order had promised more early on as Sachin Baby (42) and Vishnu Vinod (66) combined to take the total to 120, but Baby was trapped lbw playing back to a Siddharth Desai delivery and Vishnu Vinod later fell to debutant Amit Desai, who had him lbw when a delivery turned square out of the rough.

Aditya Saravate and Mohammed Azharuddeen added 95 for the sixth wicket, with Saravate scoring 58 by attacking loose bowling and Azharuddeen compiling a more restrained 57; Saravate’s top-edge from a sweep to Vedant Trivedi at silly mid-on preceded Azharuddeen accelerating to his fifty.

Kerala first-innings details: Abhishek P. Nair c Urvil b Nagwaswalla 10, Rohan S. Kunnummal c (sub) b Nagwaswalla 11, Varun Nayanar c Hingrajia b Gaja 17, Sachin Baby lbw b Siddharth 42, Vishnu Vinod lbw b Amit 66, Mohammed Azharuddeen c Amit b Gaja 57, Aditya Saravate c Trivedi b Siddharth 58, Jalaj Saxena b Gaja 10, Vaisakh Chandran b Nagwaswalla 1, M.D. Nidheesh not out 0, N.P. Basil lbw b Nagwaswalla 1; Extras (lb-1, w-4, nb-1) 6; Total (in 88.2 overs) 279. Gujarat bowling: Gaja 18-3-65-3, Nagwaswalla 17.2-4-59-4, Amit 13-1-42-1, Siddharth 24-8-67-2, Jayswal 16-1-45-0.

Following on, Kerala were 41 for one in 16 overs at stumps with Abhishek P. Nair on 29 and Sachin Baby at the crease on 0; Rohan Kunnummal had been dismissed to Nagwaswalla for 7. Extras in the second innings were five. Gujarat’s second-innings bowling figures to that point read: Gaja 4-2-5-0, Nagwaswalla 4-0-11-1, Siddharth 5-0-15-0, Jayswal 2-1-4-0, Amit 1-0-1-0.

Gujarat’s bowlers maintained discipline and patience throughout Kerala’s innings, providing timely breakthroughs as partnerships began to threaten the hosts’ position.

The late collapse left Gujarat on the road to victory, with Kerala 41 for one in their follow-on at stumps.