Kolkata: Pacer Basil Thampi's four-wicket haul helped Kerala bundle out hosts Bengal for 147 in the first innings of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the Eden Gardens, here on Tuesday.
In reply, Kerala were 35/1 at stumps on day 1. Opener Arun Karthik (1) was trapped leg-before by Indian fast bowler Mohammed Shami.
Kerala pacers accounted for nine of the 10 Bengal wickets. Basil claimed four, M D Nidheesh picked up three and Sandeep Warrier scalped two.
Only four Bengali batsmen made it to the the double digit while another four fell for ducks.
Kerala, who won the toss and invited Bengal to bat first, struck early as opener Kaushik Ghosh (0) was caught by Karthik off Basil's bowling.
Then, Sudip Chatterjee (0) was dismissed by Sandeep as he was caught by wicketkeeper Sanju Samson.
After putting on a 46-run partnership with captain Manoj Tiwari (22), opener c Kumar Raman departed for 40 as he was trapped leg-before by Sandeep.
Nidheesh claimed the next two wickets as he accounted for Tiwari and Writtick Bijoy Chatterjee (1).
Then, Basil truck twice off consecutive balls as wicketkeeper-batsman Vivek Singh (13) and Shami (0) fell prey to him.
In the very next over, Ashok Dinda (0) was caught by Karthik off offie Jalaj Saxena.
At one stage Bengal were reeling at 115/8, middle-order batsman Anustup Majumdar's 53 helped them crawl past the 140-run mark before he was scalped by Nidheesh.
Basil claimed his fourth wicket as he dismissed Mukesh Kumar (9) to wrap up the Bengal innings.
Brief scores: Bengal 147 all-out (Majumdar 53, Majumdar 40; Thampi 4/57), Kerala 35/1 (Saxena 14 batting, Rohan 14 batting, Shami 1/19)
