THIRUVANANTHAPURAMM: Bengal would feel that they have their noses in front after another exhausting day under the sun in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against hosts Kerala. Neither runs nor wickets came easily for both teams as Bengal closed the second day at 236/6, three behind Kerala's first-innings total here at St Xavier's College Ground, Thumba on Wednesday.
Left-handed opener Abhishek Raman's century (110 off 240 balls; 7x4, 2x6), his third in first-class cricket, was the glue that held the Bengal innings after they had ended Kerala's first innings in just eight balls upon resumption in the morning session.
Manoj Tiwary scored a half-century (51 off 91 balls; 5x4, 1x6) and formed a 99-run stand for the third wicket with Raman that rescued Bengal after an initial wobble.
Kerala got two early breakthroughs. In the second over,
Basil Thampi dismissed Bengal skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran, leg-before for just four runs. In the tenth over, left-arm spinner KS Monish got Koushik Ghosh (11) to nick one behind as Bengal were reduced to 26/2.
The duo of Abhishek and Tiwary was positive in their footwork against the Kerala spinners. Tiwary perished to Jalaj Saxena shortly after reaching his half-century. He attempted a repeat of a six over the short cover boundary and was caught at wide long-off by
Robin Uthappa.
Wicket in first over for Midhun
Kerala delayed the introduction of Midhun S, who was making his first-class debut, till the 48th over. Midhun, however, made an immediate impact by getting a wicket in just his second ball. Sudip Chatterjee (1) nicked one behind to Vishnu Vinod, who replaced
Sanju Samson as Kerala's wicketkeeper for the last two sessions.
Abhishek was involved in two more useful partnerships -- 48 with wicketkeeper Sreevats Goswami (24) and 41 with Shahbaz Ahmed (25 batting) -- as Bengal inched towards the Kerala total. Kerala did not opt for the new ball but a late burst from Basil ended Abhishek's knock as he edged one to a wide first-slip. Nandi (7 batting) is at the crease with Shahbaz at the close.
Earlier, Bengal wrapped up the Kerala first innings sooner than even they would have anticipated. Ishan Porel sent back Monish and Basil in the first over of the day and Mukesh Kumar dismissed Midhun in the next over as Kerala could add only two more runs to their overnight score of 237/7.
"It's been a good season for me so far. I played the one-dayers and the Deodhar trophy. I was sitting out for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s. That was disappointing. I want to have my best Ranji season. It's a good start to score a century in the first match. A lot of credit should go to our coach Arun Lal and our batting consultant VVS Laxman," said Abhishek who was the highest run-getter for Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy with two centuries.
Abhishek believes it would be difficult for Kerala to come back into the game if Bengal manage a sizeable lead. "We are looking at a lead of 100 runs. That will be good on this surface. It has started to turn and for them to go past that into the second innings and set a target can be difficult. We need to bat well for that tomorrow morning for that," added Abhishek.
Scoreboard: Kerala: 1st innings: (o/n: 237/7) KS Monish c Goswami b Porel 14, Midhun S lbw b Kumar 0, B Thampi b Porel 0, S Warrier not out 0; Extras (b 9, lb 7) 16; Total (All out; 84.2 overs) 239.
FoW: 8/239, 9/239, 10/239.
Bowling: Dinda 13.5-4-29-1, Porel 19-3-56-3, Kumar 18.3-5-37-2, Ahmed 21-8-55-2, Nandi 12-3-46-2.
Bengal: 1st innings: A Raman c Monish b Thampi 110, A Easwaran lbw b Thampi 4, K Ghosh c Samson b Monish 11, M Tiwary c Uthappa b Saxena 51, S Chatterjee c Vinod b Mithun 1, S Goswami c Rahul b Monish 24, Shahbaz batting 25, A Nandi batting 7; Extras (lb 3) 3; FoW: 1/6, 2/26, 3/125, 4/138, 5/186, 6/227
Bowling: Warrier 14-3-34-0, Thampi 13-2-35-2, Monish 14-0-52-2, Saxena 29-6-75-1, Midhun 12-0-31-1, Baby 4-0-6-0.
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