KOLKATA, FEB 16   :    Mukesh Kumar (4-18) and Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (4-47) were ruthless with the ball as Bengal skittled out Bihar for just 95 in their first innings to end the opening day in a commanding position at the Eden Gardens on Friday.

In reply, Abhimanyu Easwaran (48 not out) and Anustup Majumdar (13 not out) remained unbeaten at the crease as Bengal reached 111/2 at stumps with a lead of 16 runs in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match.

For the hosts, Karan Lal (28) and Shakir Habib Gandhi (19) also chipped in with useful runs.
“As much as I enjoy bowling for India, I enjoy it for Bengal as well. I am happy to have done well today. Suraj is also consistent with the ball and I hope he will have a bright future ahead. My experience at India level is surely helping me here,” Mukesh said after the day’s play. Earlier, put into bat, Bihar was reduced to 20/3 inside 14 overs.

From there on, Rishav Raj (26) and Sakibul Gani (14) added 32 runs to help the visitors cross 50.
However, the fourth wicket stand came to an end with Mukesh dismissing Rishav followed by his partner Gani to put Bihar in a spot of bother at 53/5.

Against the run of play, R Pratap Singh scored a handy 23 runs but the lower-order batters surrendered, losing the final five wickets for just 42 runs as Bihar’s innings folded in just 46.4 overs.
Besides Mukesh and Suraj, Mohammad Kaif (1-19) was impressive with the ball.(UNI)