Sublime ton from Saxena puts Kerala on top

Kolkata: Opener Jalaj Saxena hit a second successive century of the season to put Kerala in the driver's seat against Bengal in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at Eden Gardens here on Wednesday.

Starting at overnight 14 with the team's score at 35 for one, Saxena stood tall in a glittering 143 from 190 balls (21x4s, 2x6s) as Kerala surpassed Bengal's first innings score of 147 in the opening session before notching up a sizeable 291 in 83 overs. In their second essay, Bengal lost opener Koushik Ghosh (1) cheaply to be five for one in 2.2 overs — still needing 139 runs to avoid a first innings defeat with two complete day's play remaining.

"It's very satisfying to see where we are standing right now, despite having started off as underdogs," Saxena told reporters at the end of second day's proceedings.

Saxena not only held the Kerala innings together en route to his 14th first class century, but counter-attacked Mohammed Shami with both his sixes coming against the Australia-bound India pacer.

The BCCI had cleared Shami, India's highest wicket-taker in Tests so far this year, to play the match subject to him bowling not more than 15-17 overs in an innings.

But the star pacer ended up bowling 26 overs returning with 3/100 that aptly summed up Bengal's misery after they opted for a green top in their effort to register the season's first win.

Fresh from his match-winning 133 and nine-wicket match haul against Andhra, Saxena looked full of optimism in his third season for Kerala. The 31-year-old stood in three 50-plus partnerships, including a 119-run stand with Vasudevan Jagadeesh for the sixth wicket that took the team past 200 in the second session.

Earlier on a hazy morning, Shami started off with a bouncer to Saxena and followed it up with another short delivery.

The Kerala opener stayed calm and made his intentions clear playing an upper cut over backward point boundary as the ball had to be replaced.