In seventh heaven: Jalaj’s spell had the Bengal batters in a spin.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Bengal’s worst fears got here true after tea on the second day of the Ranji Trophy cricket match towards Kerala on the St. Xavier’s College floor on Saturday.
The pitch modified character from batter-friendly to spin-friendly within the first session. The Kerala innings ended at 363 with Akshay Chandran finishing his century. The wicket had good bounce and switch and Jalaj Saxena, discovered his kind and in a mesmerising spell (seven for 67) diminished Bengal to 172 for eight.
Akshay acknowledges the applause on reaching his hundred.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
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 stored pitching the ball on the similar spot from the place it bounced and turned. He diverse his tempo and line to confuse the batter. Only opener Abhimanyu Easwaran appeared able to coping with Jalaj’s variations. But Abhimanyu, after parrying Jalaj for lengthy, feathered a catch to Rohan Kunnummal at short-leg.
Abhimanyu’s dismissal opened the floodgates and the Bengal batters fell like useless petals because it collapsed from 107 for one to 151 for eight with Jalaj choosing up the seven wickets. Karan and Jaiswal added helpful runs to frustrate Kerala within the last session.
Early within the morning, Sachin Baby and Akshay Chandran batted with none alarms towards the medium-pacers and prolonged the fifth-wicket partnership to 179.
However left-arm spinners Ankit Mishra and Shahbaz Ahmed relished the bounce and made life tough for the Kerala batters. Baby was caught by Manoj Tiwary within the slips because the ball turned and bounced. Azharuddeen (13) began off with a boundary, however perished making an attempt 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. But Basil Thampi (20) and N.P. Basil (16) added helpful runs which propped up the whole.
The scores:
Kerala — 1st innings: Rohan S. Kunnummal c Manoj b Jaiswal 19, Jalaj Saxena c Abhishek b Mishra 40, Rohan Prem c Abhishek b Akash Deep 3, Sachin Baby c Manoj bt Karan 124, Sanju Samson c Manoj b Shahbaz 8, Akshay Chandran b Shahbaz 106, Mohammed Azharuddeen c Akash b Mishra 13, Shreyas Gopal c Manoj b Shahbaz 2, Basil Thampi lbw b Shahbaz 20, N.P. Basil c Manoj b Mishra 16, M.D. Nidheesh (not out) 3; Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-1, nb-1): 9; Total (in 127 overs): 363.
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-40, 3-82, 4-112, 5-291, 6-312, 7-317, 8-324, 9-351.
Bengal bowling: Jaiswal 19-3-51-1, Akash 24-8-65-1, Mishra 35-5-84-3, Shahbaz 23.3-2-73-4, Karan 20-2-52-1, Kharia 6-0-29-0.
Bengal — 1st innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran c Rohan b Jalaj 72, Ranjot Singh Kharia b Nidheesh 6, Sudip Kumar Gharami c Rohan b Jalaj 33, Manoj Tiwary c Akshay b Jalaj 6, Abishek Poral c Rohan b jalaj 2, Anustup Majumdar c Baby b Jalaj 0, Shahbaz c Prem b Jalaj 8, Karan Lal (batting) 27, Akash Deep c Sanju b Jalaj 4, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (batting) 9; Extras (b-4, nb-1): 5; Total (for eight wkts. in 49 overs): 172.
Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-107, 3-118, 4-122, 5-122, 6-129, 7-145, 8-151.
Kerala bowling: Thampi 2-0-16-1, Jalaj 20-3-67-7, Nidheesh 8-1-28-1, Shreyas 7-0-30-0, Basil 11-2-25-0, Akshay 1-0-2-0.
Source: www.thehindu.com
