Sarvate and Basil hand Kerala upper hand over Bengal in Ranji Trophy at Mangalapuram

Aditya Sarvate and N.P. Basil combined to put Kerala in control of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match against Bengal at the KCA Stadium in Mangalapuram on Monday. When umpires called for bad light, Bengal were 172 for six in their first innings.

A damp pitch prevented play in the opening session and Kerala captain Vishnu Vinod chose to bowl. Bengal openers Abhimanyu Easwaran and Ankur Paul took advantage of loose early bowling from M.D. Nidheesh and Basil to get the visitors off to a promising start.

Nidheesh struck soon after, finding the edge of Abhimanyu’s bat and having him caught behind by Azharuddeen for 10. Basil then removed Aamir Gani for 14, Abhishek J. Nair taking the catch in the slips.

Ankur Paul remained the mainstay of Bengal’s innings, scoring 66 off 80 balls with eight fours, before he mistimed a shot to Aditya Sarvate and was caught at long-on by a back-tracking Abhishek P. just before the tea break.

Sarvate then produced a decisive over after tea, dismissing Sudip Chatterjee (6) — caught by Sachin Baby in the slips — and then taking a return catch to send back Abhishek Porel for a golden duck.

Basil struck in the penultimate over of the day, removing the well-set Sudip Gharami (36), caught by Abhishek P. Nair in the slips, ending the 62-run sixth-wicket partnership that had rebuilt Bengal’s innings after the side slid from 102 for two to 108 for five.

Bengal — 1st innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran c Azharuddeen b Nidheesh 10, Ankur Paul c Abhishek P. b Sarvate 66, Aamir Gani c Abhishek J. b Basil 14, Sudip Gharami c Abhishek J. b Basil 36, Sudip Chatterjee c Baby b Sarvate 6, Abhishek Porel c & b Saravate 0, Shahbaz Ahmed (batting) 35, Sumanta Gupta (batting) 1; Extras (lb-4): 4; Total (for six wkts. in 50 overs): 172. Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-66, 3-102, 4-108, 5-108, 6-170. Kerala bowling: Nidheesh 10-1-36-1, Basil 10-1-29-2, Abhishek P. Nair 2-0-14-0, Sarvate 15-3-38-3, Jalaj 10-1-43-0, Vaisakh 3-0-8-0.

At stumps in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C fixture at KCA Stadium, Mangalapuram, Bengal were 172 for six with Shahbaz Ahmed (batting) 35 and Sumanta Gupta (batting) 1 at the crease.