Aditya Sarwate shines on Kerala return as Bengal struggle at 172/6 in Ranji Trophy

Sarwate strikes as Bengal slump to 108/5

After one season with Chhattisgarh, Aditya Sarwate has made an immediate impact since returning to Kerala. The left-arm spinner's wicket-to-wicket bowling gave the hosts an early advantage as Bengal were reduced to 172/6 on a rain-curtailed opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match at the KCA Stadium, Mangalapuram, on Monday.

The whole first session was washed out, and Kerala captain Vishnu Vinod had little hesitation in putting the visitors in after winning the toss. Bengal lost their skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran early, when the opener edged MD Nidheesh to wicketkeeper Mohammed Azharuddin in the fifth over of the day.

Ankur Paul then played some fluent strokes to complete his 50 off 64 balls. However, Bengal lost Aamir Gani, promoted to No. 3, just after the first drinks break, caught by Abhishek Nair off Basil N.

Sarwate then struck twice in the same over, removing out-of-form Sudip Chatterjee and Avishek Porel to reduce Bengal to 108/5 from 102/2. Chatterjee was out for 6, edging to Sachin Baby in the slips, while Porel fell for a golden duck, playing one straight to the bowler.

Gharami and Shahbaz rescue Bengal

Bengal could have been in deeper trouble had Sudip Kumar Gharami and Shahbaz Ahmed not stitched together a 62-run sixth-wicket stand late in the day. The hosts pegged back the innings when Gharami (36) was caught by Abhishek Nair off pacer Basil N in the penultimate over of the day.

Bad light ends play early

Only 50 overs of play were possible on the day, after the umpires called for stumps due to bad light.