A rank bad shot from opener Ankur Paul, combined with probing spells from Aditya Sarvate and N.P. Basil, allowed Kerala to seize control of the opening day’s play against Bengal in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match at the KCA Stadium, Mangalapuram, here on Monday.

Basil tilted the match heavily in favour of the host when he dismissed the well-set Sudip Gharami (36), caught by Abhishek P. Nair in the slips, in what was the penultimate over of the day.

When the Bengal batters returned to the pavilion after accepting the umpires’ offer of bad light, the visitor was 172 for six with Shahbaz Ahmed (36) and Sumanta Gupta (one) at the crease.

Basil broke the threatening stand between Gharami and Shahbaz, who had added 62 runs for the sixth wicket after Bengal slumped to 108 for five from 102 for two. The slump had begun when Ankur (66, 80b 8x4), who was going great guns, unwisely chose to attack Sarvate just before the tea break. He mistimed his shot and was caught brilliantly at the long-on fence by a back-tracking Abhishek P.

Two in one over

Saravte struck twice after tea in the same over, getting Sudip Chatterjee (6) caught by Sachin Baby in the slips and taking a return catch to dismiss the in-form Abhishek Porel for a golden duck.

Earlier, Kerala captain Vishnu Vinod elected to bowl after a damp pitch prevented any play in the first session. Bengal openers Abhimanyu Easwaran and Paul punished the inaccurate opening spells from M.D. Nidheesh and Basil. However, Nidheesh soon found the edge of Abhimanyu’s (10) bat and he was snapped up by wicketkeeper Azharuddeen.

Basil returned to snare Aamir Gani (14), caught by Abhishek J. Nair in the slips. Ankur played fluently and looked set for a big score until his bad shot enabled the host to wrest control.

The scores:

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.