Kerala on Thursday blew away home favourites Bengal by nine wickets and with a day to spare for their second successive win in the Ranji Trophy, consolidating the position atop the Elite Group B standings.
Sandeep Warrier complemented opener Jalaj Saxena’s first innings 143 with an impressive 5/33 in the second essay, and the Kerala pacer rattled the top four Bengal batsmen, including a well-set skipper Manoj Tiwary (62), to set up the win.
Warrier was at his best during his second spell (7-2-10-2) in the post-lunch session, when he broke a 69-run third wicket stand between Tiwary and Sudeep Chatterjee (39).
He extracted reverse swing and cleaned up Tiwary with an incoming delivery before dismissing Chatterjee (39) in his next over. From thereon, it was just a matter of time as the last eight wickets managed to add just 69 runs to be bundled out for 184 in 56.5 overs.
Kerala knocked off the 41-run target in 11 overs to hand Bengal their first loss at the Eden Gardens since December 2014, when they succumbed to Karnataka by an identical margin.
Kerala had a golden chance to complete the win by 10 wickets, which would have given the visitors a bonus point, but Bengal denied that with pacer Mukesh Kumar cleaning up first innings hero and Man of the Match Saxena for 26.
Kerala settled for six points to lead the table with 13, while Bengal remained on six points.
Australia-bound India pacer Mohammed Shami’s inclusion on a green top had bolstered Bengal but their batsmen failed to apply themselves and went on the backfoot after Kerala put them in after winning a good toss.
With this defeat, Bengal’s hope for a qualifying suffered a big blow as tougher challenges lie ahead with three back-to-back away matches beginning with Tamil Nadu from November 28 to December 1.
They have two home matches left against Delhi and Punjab.
Kerala, who beat Andhra in the previous round, face Madhya Pradesh at home.
Earlier, Warrier broke the partnership between Raman and Chatterjee by dismissing the former with an incoming delivery from round the wickets.
Tiwary joined Chatterjee and batted with a lot of positivity, in sharp contrast to his slow first innings knock of 22 from 76 balls. He was off the mark with back-to-back boundaries off Nidheesh in the offside region.
Nidheesh then bowled to his legs and a deft flicked followed with a boundary to the onside region.
Tiwary ended the over with a fourth boundary, a classical drive through the extra cover, as Nidheesh conceded 17 runs in the 14th over.
Tiwary survived some anxious moments against Warrier, who generated good pace and bounce, beating the skipper a few times.
It was after the lunch break that the match turned in favour of Kerala.
Tiwary had a mix-up with Chatterjee and looked frustrated after the latter denied him a single. In the next delivery, Warrier bowled a sharp incoming delivery that went through the big gap between bat and pad before unsettling the stumps.
“It was not an outstanding delivery to get out. He was batting superbly. But I was in my zone the whole day. Maybe it was one of those things that triggered him or he made a mistake,” Warrier said, referring to Tiwary’s mix-up with Chatterjee.
Having got lucky twice, Chatterjee’s chancy innings came to an end as he edged one to the first slip in Warrier’s next over.
Warrier thanked his fellow pacer Nidheesh and batsman Salman Nizar for maintaining the ball, which aided in getting reverse swing.
