Patna: Bihar took an 88-run first innings lead against Kerala and seemed to be in comfortable position after taking two Kerala second innings wicket for 62 runs on the third penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy match at the Moinul Haq Stadium here on Sunday. Kerala’s first innings was all out for 227 runs. Bihar made a big score of 377 in its first innings and took 88 runs lead. At the end of the third day’s play Kerala scored 62 runs for 2 wickets.
Bihar team started the day on overnight 270 runs for 5 wickets with Sakibul Gani on 120 runs and Vipul Krishna without opening his account.
There was a partnership of 21 runs between these two. On the third day, Bihar got its first blow in the form of Vipul Krishna. Vipul Krishna became the victim of Vasil Thampi at the score of 14 runs. After this, Raghavendra Pratap, who played an unbeaten inning of 75 runs against Uttar Pradesh, also got out cheaply. Raghavendra Pratap scored 5 runs. Bihar got the 8th blow in the form of Sakibul Gani. Sakibul scored 150 runs off 255 balls with the help of 17 fours and 2 sixes. After this, Veer Pratap Singh and Ashutosh Aman played wisely, and Bihar team was successful in scoring 377 runs in 113.3 overs. Veer Pratap Singh scored 16 runs in 71 balls, Ashutosh Aman scored 26 runs in 58 balls. Himanshu Singh remained unbeaten without opening his account.
For Kerala, Basil Thampi took 2 wickets for 58 runs, Akhil took 3 wickets for 50 runs, Jalaj Saxena took 2 wickets for 67 runs, Shreyas Gopal took 3 wickets for 94 runs.
Captain Rohan S Kunnumal and Anand Krishnan began Kerala’s second innings. There was a partnership of 40 runs between these two. Bihar bowlers did not allow this pair to settle down. Vipul Krishna gave the first success to Bihar. Vipul trapped Anand Krishnan LBW. Anand scored 12 runs. The team’s score had just increased by 18 runs when Ashutosh Aman of Bihar gave the second blow to Kerala. Ashutosh Aman bowled out the opener at the score of 37 as he was approaching his half-century. By the end of the third day’s play, Sachin Bevi was at the crease after scoring 6 runs and Akshay Chandran had two runs.
