Bengal’s worst fears got here true after Tea on the second day of the Ranji Trophy cricket match in opposition to Kerala on the St.Xavier’s Faculty floor on Saturday.
The pitch – which modified its character from batter-friendly to spin-friendly within the first session, seeing Kerala finish its innings at 363 – supplied beneficiant bounce and switch. Jalaj Saxena, for the primary time this season, hit kind and, in a mesmerising spell (7/67), lowered Bengal to 172 for seven.
Karan Lal (22 batting) – who was bowled off a Jalaj no ball – and Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (9 batting) added 21 runs for the ninth wicket.
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Jalaj was relentless and saved pitching the ball on the identical spot from the place it bounced and turned. He various the tempo and line to confuse the batter. Solely opener Abhimanyu Easwaran regarded able to coping with Jalaj’s variations.
However Easwaran, after parrying Jalaj for lengthy, feathered a catch to Rohan Kunnummal at short-leg.
Easwaran’s dismissal opened the floodgates and Bengal batters fell like lifeless petals. Bengal collapsed from 107 for one to 151 for eight as Jalaj took all seven wickets. He additionally bowled Karan however overstepped to offer a life to the batter.
Karan and Suraj added helpful runs to frustrate Kerala within the last session.
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Early within the morning, Sachin Child and Akshay Chandran batted with none alarms in opposition to the medium pacers and prolonged the fifth-wicket partnership to 179 runs. Nevertheless, left-arm spinners Ankit Mishra and Shahbaz Ahmed relished the bounce on supply and made life tough for Kerala batters.
Manoj Tiwary caught Sachin Child within the slips because the ball turned and bounced. Azharuddeen (13) began off with a boundary however perished, attempting to assault Mishra and was caught within the deep.
Akshay Chandran (106) accomplished his century however was bowled by Shahbaz. Kerala misplaced wickets in a rush because it slumped to 324 for eight. However Basil Thampi (20) and N.P. Basil (16) added helpful runs which propped up the whole.