Bengal pacers restrict Baroda

Ishan Porel leads the charge with four wickets

The Ishan Porel-led Bengal pace battery gave the team a bright start by bundling out Baroda for 181 runs in the first innings on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the Barabati Stadium here on Thursday.

In reply, Bengal was at 24 for the loss of its captain Abhimanyu Easwaran when bad light, owing to overcast conditions in the final session, stopped play.

The Bengal pacers, who utilised the morning conditions and variable bounce to ask questions frequently, backed their skipper’s decision to field by overcoming the disappointment of missing out on chances in the first hour.

J.K. Singh got a reprieve when he was dropped in the third over off Mukesh Kumar. His opening companion and captain Kedar Devdhar was caught in the first slip on 27 off an Akash Deep no-ball.

While Akash made several loud shouts, it was Ishan who extracted subtle movement to provide the breakthroughs after changing ends in the 15th over. With Baroda at 41, Devdhar was surprised by the extra bounce and looped one to gully, while P.A. Kumar was adjudged leg-before.

In his next over, Ishan got rid of Shivalik Sharma as debutant wicketkeeper Abhishek Porel pouched a low catch to his left.

Akash too struck twice in one over to dismiss Krunal Pandya and Abhimanyu Singh and Shahbaz bowled J.K. Singh to reduce Baroda to 95 for six at lunch.