Sanju Samson smashes fastest double hundred as Kerala maul Goa by 104 runs
Bengaluru, Oct 12: Kerala wicket keeper-batsman Sanju Samson made a case for himself for the upcoming T20s against Bangladesh by hitting a blistering double century as Kerala thrashed Goa by 104 runs in their Elite Group A game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Saturday.
Riding on Samson's record-breaking unbeaten 212 off just 129 balls, Kerala posted a mammoth 377/3 on the board and restricted Goa to 153/3 after play was called off due to inclement weather.
Goa were 104 runs short of the revised target.
The cynosure of all eyes at the Alur Cricket Stadium II near here was Samson.
Opting to bat, Kerala lost openers skipper Robin (10) and Vishnu Vinod (7) cheaply and were in a spot of bother at 31-2.
But Samson, who struck 21 fours and 10 sixes in his knock, hammered the opposition bowlers.
With this knock, Samson holds the record for the highest Indian List A domestic score, after he went past Karn Kaushal's 202, scored for Uttarakhand.
Samson is the eighth Indian to score a double hundred in List A cricket. His is also the highest score by a wicket- keeper in List A matches, surpassing 209 by Abid Ali.
Also Samson hit the fastest List A 200 by an Indian, (in 129 balls). He also became the first Indian to score a list A 200 at number three position.
Samson and two-down Sachin Baby (127 off 135 balls) conjured a massive 338-run stand for the third wicket.
Baby struck seven boundaries and four sixes.
The partnership of 338 betweenSamson and Baby is a new List A record for the third wicket, as they went past the 309 run stand betweenTim Curtis and Tom Moody for Worcestershire in 1994.
Samson thus made a case for himself and played a timely knock, with Rishabh Pant struggling and the future of veteran stumper-batsman M S Dhoni uncertain.
The chase was always going to be uphill task for Goa, who fell way beyond the target.
Elsewhere, Jharkhand eked out a three-wicket win versus Andhra with middle-order batsman Virat Singh remaining unbeaten at 74.
Karnataka defeated Saurashtra by eight wickets to win full four points.
Brief Scores: Kerala 377/3 (Sanju Samson 212 not out, Sachin Baby 127; Lakshay Garg 1-73) beat Goa 153/3 (Tunish Sawkar 56, Aditya Kaushik 50 not out; Sandeep Warrior 1-22) by 104 runs.
Kerala 4 points, Goa 0 points.
Andhra 265/6 (Kranthi Kumar 72, Ricky Bhuvi 59; Varun Aaron 2-54 ) lost to Jharkhand 266/7 (Virat Singh 74 not out, Saurabh Tiwari 56; Prithvi Raj Yarra 2-58) by 3 wickets.
Jharkhand 4 points, Andhra 0 points.
Saurashtra 212 all out (Prerak Mankad 86, Chirag Jani 66; M Prasidh Krishna 5-19) lost to Karnataka 213/2 (Devdutt Padikkal 103 not out, Manish Pandey 67 not out; Prerak Mankad 2-33) by 8 wickets. Karnataka 4 points, Saurashtra 0 points.
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Kerala polls: Vijayan, Revanth Reddy trade barbs as campaigning ends
Kannur (Kerala)/Hyderabad (PTI): A war of words between Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his Telangana counterpart Revanth Reddy turned acrimonious on Tuesday, the final day of campaigning for the April 9 Assembly polls.
The two leaders sparred on the virtual world as well, exchanging letters on their respective social media handles.
The escalation came after Vijayan, responding to Reddy's earlier remarks, used Malayalam expressions considered nearly derogatory, signalling strong disapproval of the Telangana CM's comments.
Reddy, campaigning for the UDF in Kollam district, hit back swiftly, likening Vijayan to PM Narendra Modi.
He said he would take any personal remarks from the senior leader as a "blessing" considering his age, but objected to what he described as insults directed at the people of Kerala. "But you cannot abuse our Kerala people," he said, hours before campaigning drew to a close.
The controversy began after Reddy had said "nee po mone Vijaya" by invoking a famous dialogue from superstar Mohanlal's blockbuster movie "Narasimham" while referring to Vijayan on April 1 during a UDF campaign roadshow in Nemom constituency.
Earlier in the day, while reacting to Reddy's earlier remarks, Vijayan said a CM must maintain basic standards of conduct and questioned whether such dignity was being followed.
In his response to a query, Vijayan used Malayalam words that were seen as nearly derogatory for Reddy, signalling his strong disapproval of the remarks made against him.
Sharply reacting to the CM's objectionable remarks, Congress leader V D Satheesan said Vijayan appeared to have "completely lost composure" and warned that any further deterioration in his conduct would have brought "greater embarrassment" to the state.
After the critical remarks during the press meet, Vijayan wrote on his 'X' handle that political differences are natural, but expressing strong disagreement through personally insulting remarks is an attitude that he rejects. Reddy's statements lacked factual backing.
In a detailed letter attached with the 'X' post addressing the Telangana CM, Vijayan said the experience of the people of Kerala was "vastly different" from what Reddy had portrayed.
He clarified that he did not intend to engage in a debate over the performance of the Telangana government, stating that it was for the people of Telangana and political parties there to assess their government.
Referring to Reddy's comments, Vijayan said the LDF government has been consistently publishing progress reports over the past 10 years on the implementation of its election promises, underlining its commitment to continuous accountability.
He also rejected the allegation of "selective appropriation" of Kerala's achievements, including its top ranking in the NITI Aayog SDG Index, and said such criticism was misplaced.
Dismissing claims of industrial stagnation, Vijayan said Kerala has made significant strides in the startup ecosystem and ease of doing business, adding that these achievements have been widely acknowledged.
He also alleged that key infrastructure projects in Kerala, including the Kochi Metro and Vizhinjam Port, faced delays under previous Congress-led governments at the Centre, while long-pending promises such as a railway coach factory remained unfulfilled.
Vijayan further accused the BJP-led Union government of discrimination against Kerala and said the state has been actively resisting what he described as "anti-federal and undemocratic" policies through legal and political means, including approaching the Supreme Court.
He also rejected Reddy's criticism that the LDF was not vocal enough against the BJP, asserting that Kerala has been at the forefront of defending constitutional values.
Concluding his letter, Vijayan reiterated the state government's commitment to building a "Nava Keralam" and moving forward as a model for others.
On April 1, while addressing party workers in Nemom, Reddy used the popular Malayalam film dialogue "Nee po mone Vijaya". He adapted it to target Vijayan, saying "Nee po mone Vijaya".
Reddy went further, claiming that Vijayan's "time is over" and that his "expiry date has passed".
Responding to these allegations, Vijayan had said that the Telangana CM was "misinformed" and accused him of "ridiculing" Kerala and its people while trying to hide the weaknesses of his own state.
In a later response, Reddy defended his remarks and said that many of the statistics cited by Vijayan were taken from the NITI Aayog SDG Index 2023 24, arguing that the data was already outdated.
Reddy in his letter questioned the veteran Marxist leader's claim that Kerala would become the first state to completely eradicate extreme poverty by late 2025 had been achieved. Further, he chooses to conduct himself respectfully and gracefully in his criticism of the Kerala government's performance, whereas Vijayan opted to use language of poor taste.
Reddy, in his letter on X, said that while he respects NITI Aayog's corruption rankings, he wants to know why the infamous gold smuggling case, linked to individuals connected to the CMO, remains unresolved, and why 4.5 kg of gold allegedly misappropriated from the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple has not been accounted for.
