Sanju Samson hits ton but Bengal keeps it tight against Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was a day when the momentum swung both ways. Sanju Samson scored his tenth first-class century and along with Robin Uthappa seemed to have given an upper hand for Kerala but Bengal clawed their way back into the game in the last session leaving the Elite Group A tie nicely poised. Kerala were 237/7 at stumps on day one at St Xavier's College Ground, Thumba here on Tuesday.
On a slow track where the ball was not coming on to the bat, Sanju (116 off 182 balls; 16x4, 1x6), playing at one-down, had to curb his natural instinct and bat in a restrained manner to rescue Kerala after they had lost three wickets for 53 in the first session.Along with Uthappa (50 off 137 balls; 5x1, 1x6) he stitched a 138-run fourth-wicket partnership.
Kerala, after electing to bat first, lost the openers in successive overs. First, Rahul P, who had hit 97 in the previous game, nicked one off Ishan Porel and then in the next over off Mukesh Kumar, Jalaj Saxena followed him in the same fashion. Ashok Dinda, who was making a comeback into the Ranji side, accounted for Sachin Baby with an indipper that beat his defence to shatter the stumps.
Sanju, who had missed Kerala's first match due to Indian team commitments, meanwhile, was living a charmed life at the other end in the first session. He played and missed many times off the pacers and attempted a few ungainly aerial heaves against the spinners. He, in fact, was dropped on 49 by Koushik Ghosh at a squarish gully position off Mukesh.
Sanju brought up his fifty in 71 balls and then settled down into a rhythm suitable for the wicket. Along with Uthappa, he rotated the strike and patiently brought Kerala back into the game. The hosts did not lose a single wicket in the second session going into the hut at 149/3.
It took Sanju just 15 balls after tea to go from 77 to 100 as he hit Dinda for a couple of sweetly timed cover drives and then lofted left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed for a four and six inside-out over the smaller boundary to bring up the milestone in 153 balls.
Uthappa reached his fifty soon but he offered a simple catch to midwicket off off-spinner Arnab Nandi to let Bengal get back into the game. Nandi removed Vishnu Vinod the next ball, caught behind. Then late in the day, Shahbaz was rewarded for his day of hard toil with the wickets of Sanju and Salman Nizar (19).
Kerala made three changes to their playing eleven; Sanju for Mohammed Azharuddeen, Leg-spinner Midhun S, making his debut, for Sijomon Joseph and Basil Thampi for KM Asif.
"We should have held on to the catch we got. We missed a run-out opportunity and there were a few close shouts too. After tea, we came back into the game," said Bengal coach Arun Lal. "It was a good toss to win. They have got a good score on a day one. It is not an easy wicket to play strokes. Sanju made most of his chances and showed what a champion player he is," added Lal.
Scoreboard:
Kerala: 1st innings: P Rahul c Goswami b Porel 5, J Saxena c Goswami b Kumar 9, S Samson lbw b Ahmed 116, S Baby b Dinda 10, R Uthappa c Ahmed b Nandi 50, V Vinod c Goswami b Nandi 0, S Nizar b Ahmed 19, KS Monish batting 12, S Midhun batting 0; Extras 16 (b 9, lb 7); Total (7 Wkts; 83 overs) 237.
FoW: 1/15, 2/15, 3/53, 4/191, 5/191, 6/224, 7/227.
Bowling: A Dinda 13.5-4-29-1, I Porel 18-3-54-1, M Kumar 18.1-5-37-1, S Ahmed 21-8-55-2, A Nandi 12-3-46-2.