Patna: After the bowlers, the batsmen of Bihar showed a brilliant game as Bihar took a first innings lead of 43 against Kerala in their Ranji Trophy match at the Moinul Haq Stadium here on Saturday. At the end of the second day’s play, Bihar scored 270 runs for 5 wickets in 73 overs.
Sakibul Gani scored 120 runs not out, Piyush Kumar Singh scored 51 runs and Vipin Saurabh made 60 runs. Kerala’s first innings was reduced to 227 runs. Sakibul Gani completed his century in 166 balls. This is his fourth century in Ranji Trophy.
On the second day of Bihar vs Kerala match under Ranji Trophy Elite Group B at the local Moinul Haq Stadium, the visiting Kerala team was all out for 227 runs in their first innings. Kerala added 24 runs to the overnight score. On the second day, Kerala’s last wicket fell in the form of Shreyas Gopal. Shreyas Gopal was out after scoring 137 runs. Ashutosh Aman dismissed Shreyas Gopal. Apart from Shreyas Gopal, Akshay Chandran scored 37 runs and Jalaj Saxena scored 22 runs for Kerala in the first innings.
Veer Pratap Singh took 3 wickets for 26 runs, Himanshu Singh took 4 wickets for 63 runs, Vipul Krishna took 2 wickets for 57 runs, Ashutosh Aman took 1 wicket for 47 runs.
Bihar had a poor start in their first innings as opener Sarman Nigrodh fell cheaply. Babul Kumar also could not stay on the wicket for long and was bowled out by Akhin at the score of only 16 runs in 27 balls. Bihar were 29 for two at one stage.
Piyush Kumar Singh and Sakibul Gani together handled this faltering innings. There was a big partnership of 109 runs between the two. Piyush Kumar Singh completed his half-century. Shreyas Gopal dismissed Piyush Kumar Singh. Piyush scored 51 runs. After Piyush’s dismissal, Rishabh Raj came but he returned to the pavilion after scoring only 2 runs. After this, Vipin Saurabh fully supported Sakibul and steered Bihar to overtake Kerala’s first innings total. Jalaj Saxena dismissed Vipin Saurabh for a total of 60 runs. There was a partnership of 110 runs between Sakibul and Vipin Saurabh. Sakibul Gani completed his century in 166 balls and is currently at the wicket after scoring 120 runs in 199 balls with the help of 13 fours and 2 sixes.
For Kerala, Akhin took 2 wickets for 40 runs, Jalaj Saxena took 1 wicket for 47 runs and Shreyas Gopal took 2 wickets for 66 runs.
