Say cheese! Kerala workforce is a contented bunch after defeating Bengal.
| Photo Credit: Special association
A late shot of adrenaline by Basil Thampi gave Kerala its first win of the season within the Ranji Trophy cricket match on the St. Xavier’s College floor right here on Monday. Banished to patrol the ropes for a significant a part of the day, Thampi was summoned by captain Sanju Samson to bowl solely after tea.
Chasing a mammoth goal of 449, the Bengal lower-order, led by Shahbaz Ahmed pissed off Kerala within the publish lunch session.
The seventh-wicket stand between Shahbaz Ahmed (80) and Karan Lal (40) added 83 fast runs and handled the Kerala spinners with disdain which compelled Samson to show to his medium-pacer.
Thampi responded in fashion by breaching the defence of Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (13) and within the subsequent over ran out Akash Deep (1) with an excellent decide up and throw from mid-on.
A pumped up Thampi then wrapped up the Bengal innings when he had Shahbaz Ahmed skying a catch to Rohan Kunnummal at deep square-leg. With 16 deliveries Thampi ended Bengal’s spirited chase from Bengal to provide Kerala a 109-run win.
Until Shahbaz and Karan joined forces, Kerala held the higher hand with spinners hanging at common intervals, lowering Bengal to 234 for six.
Jalaj Saxena, regardless of bowling with a swollen finger, was relentless and picked up wickets each time the batters went after him. He completed with match figures of 13 for 172.
Manoj Tiwary, who received a reprieve on seven after being given leg-before off a Jalaj no-ball, used the reverse and conventional sweeps to pile stress on the off-spinner. However, the additional aggression from Bengal batters solely resulted of their dismissals.
Easwaran (65) tried to hit Jalaj over mid-wicket however ended up holing out to N.P. Basil and Tiwary’s (35) urge to dominate Jalaj resulted in a catch to Sanju. The development continued with Abhishek Porel (28), after slamming Shreyas Gopal for consecutive sixes, gave a tame return catch.
Sanju was compelled to show to Basil when the seventh wicket stand between Shahbaz and Karan grew to become threatening.
He gave Kerala a fortuitous breakthrough when Karan (40) swished and nicked however the ball popped out from wicket-keeper Azharuddeen’s gloves.
However, substitute fielder Krishna Prasad was alert sufficient to assemble the rebound. After tea, Thampi ran in exhausting to finish Bengal’s resistance.
The scores:
Kerala — 1st innings: 363.
Bengal — 1st innings: 180.
Kerala — 2nd innings: 265/6 decl.
Bengal — 2nd innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran c Basil b Jalaj 65, Ranjot Singh Kharia c Thampi b Jalaj 2, Sudip Kumar Gharami c Akshay b Shreyas 31, Anstup Majumdar c (sub) Krishna Prasad b Jalaj 16, Manoj Tiwary c Sanju b Jalaj 35, Abhishek Porel c & b Shreyas 28, Shahbaz Ahmed c Rohan b Thampi 80, Karan Lal c (sub) Krishna Prasad b Thampi 40, Sauraj Sindhu Jaiswal b Thampi 13, Akash Deep run out 1, Ankit Mishra (not out) 0; Extras (b-15, lb-10, nb-3): 28; Total (in 87.4 overs): 339.
Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-77, 3-113, 4-151, 5-180, 6-234, 7-317, 8-335, 9-337.
Kerala bowling: Jalaj 36-3-104-4, Akshay 14-2-48-0, Shreyas 23-2-96-2, Baby 5-0-26-0, Sanju 1-0-11-0, Basil 6-2-21-1, Thampi 2.4-0-8-2.
Source: www.thehindu.com
