Seamers Mukesh Kumar and Suraj Jaiswal took four wickets apiece to provide Bengal with an upper hand on the opening day of its final Ranji Trophy Group B match at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
Determined to give its skipper Manoj Tiwary a deserving farewell, the host rode on Mukesh and Jaiswal’s dominating performances to bundle out Bihar, which was asked to bat, for a paltry 95 in the first innings.
Led by opener Abhimanyu Easwaran’s unbeaten 48 (69b, 6x4), Bengal was at 111 for two, with a 16-run lead, at Stumps.
On a greenish track, Bengal pacers were too good for the Bihar batters. Jaiswal drew first blood by trapping Piyush Singh lbw in the second over.
Mangal Mahrour and Rishav Raj held fort for some time before first-change bowler Mohammad Kaif had the former caught behind in the 13th over.
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Returning from India duty, Mukesh made further inroads as he bowled Bipin Saurabh in the next over. He bowled a good line to scalp a patient Rishav, Sakibul Gani and Veer Pratap Singh in a miserly performance.
The promising Jaiswal got some help from the deck to pick up three more wickets as Bengal wrapped up Bihar’s first innings in the post-lunch session.
The Bengal opening duo of Abhimanyu and left-handed debutant Shakir Habib Gandhi added 35 runs before Veer, bowling round the wicket, spectacularly uprooted Gandhi’s off-stump.
Abhimanyu, who executed some lovely drives to the boundary, gathered 57 with Karan Lal and showed his intent to build another partnership with Anustup Majumdar.
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