Patna: Shreyas Gopal's unbeaten hundred took Kerala to 203/9 before bad light stopped play on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match aganst Bihar at the Moin-ul-Haq Stadium here on Friday.
Medium-pacer Veer Pratap Singh rocked Kerala early on after the home side opted to bowl. Kerala captain Rohan Kunnummal was the first to go as he was clean bowled by Vipul Krishna for five.
Veer Pratap castled No. 3 Sachin Baby for one. The right-armer also sent back Vishnu Vinod (0) and debutant opener Anand Krishnan (9) as Kerala collapsed to 34/4. Akshay Chandran and Gopal added 50 for the fifth wicket. Leg-spinner Himanshu Singh broke the stand by removing Akshay for 37.
Wicketkeeper-batter Vishnu Raj could only make one on debut as he became Himanshu's second victim of the match.
Gopal put on a further 61 with Jalaj Saxena (22) for the seventh wicket. The 30-year-old Gopal brought up his sixth first-class hundred off 186 balls, with the help of 16 fours.
He has so far added 27 with last-man Akhin Sathar (0 batting). Akhin is the third debutant for Kerala in the match.
Regular Kerala skipper Sanju Samson opted out of the match citing personal reasons. Earlier, bad light delayed toss.
Kerala are in sixth place with just four points from three matches, while Bihar find themselves in seventh spot (two points) in the eight-team group.
Both teams are in search of their maiden win this season.
Brief scores: Kerala 203/9 in 68 overs (Shreyas Gopal 113 batting; Himanshu Singh 4/50, Veer Pratap Singh 3/26, Vipul Krishna 2/57) vs Bihar.
