The pitch revealed its true character on the third day, showing a distinct inclination to the spinners. The tweakers accounted for the 15 of the 18 wickets that fell on the penultimate day and it left Kerala staring at defeat, tottering at 53 for four, after Bengal set the home side a massive target of 408 in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match at the KCA Stadium, Mangalapuram, on Wednesday.

Captain Vishnu Vinod (19 batting) and Salman Nizar, yet to get off the mark, were at the crease after left-arm spinner Pradipta Pramanik (four for 21) wiped out the Kerala top-order.

Earlier in the morning, Bengal needed just 16.3 overs to wrap up the Kerala first innings for 141. Pramanik (four for 44) was the wrecker-in-chief, claiming three of the four wickets that fell in the first session.

However, Bengal didn’t enforce the follow-on, sacrificing a potential bonus point, to avoid batting on a treacherous fourth-day pitch. But given the ineptness with which the Kerala batters handled the Bengal bowlers, the notion that the host could have set a fourth-innings target for the visitor was far-fetched.

In the second innings, tThe Bengal batters took calculated risks to score runs at a brisk pace. Although Bengal lost wickets at regular intervals, it was irrelevant as every scoring shot pushed the match out of Kerala’s reach.

Captain Abhimanyu Easwaran (47) hit a flurry of boundaries off M.D. Nidheesh and Aditya Saravte. Abhimanyu and Sudip Chatterjee continued to attack the spinners in the post-lunch session before Jalaj struck by removing the former. Jalaj found his rhythm to pick up five wickets but Mohammed Shami clubbed three sixes in quickfire cameo to extended the lead beyond 400.

The scores: Bengal — 1st innings: 350.

Kerala — 1st innings: Abhishek P. Nair b Shami 4, Abhishek J. Nair b Pramanik 12, Sachin Baby c Gharami b Shahbaz 23, Vishnu Vinod b Shami 41, Salman Nizar c Porel b Shami 11, Mohammed Azhauddeen (not out) 30, Aditya Saravate c Abhimanyu b Shahbaz 0, Jalaj Saxena c Gharmi b Pramanik 6, Vaisakh Chandran b Pramanik 5, M.D. Nidheesh lbw b Pramanik 0, N.P. Basil run out 0; Extras (b-1, 1b-8): 9; Total (in 51.3 overs): 141.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-26, 3-54, 4-95, 5-99, 6-97. 7-121, 8-135, 9-135.

Bengal bowling: Shami 11-2-35-3, Kaif 7-1-20-0, Pramanik 16.3-6-44-4, Shahbaz 15-1-22-2, Gani 2-1-11-0.

Bengal — 2nd innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran c sub (Nayanar) b Jalaj 47, Ankur Paul b Basil 12, Sudip Gharami c Salman b Jalaj 12, Sudip Chatterjee b Jalaj 34, Abishek Porel c Vishnu b Sarvate 21, Shahbaz Ahmed c Abhishek P. Nair b Sarvate 20, Sumanta Gupta c sub (Nayanar) b Jalaj 6, Aamir Gani c Salman b Sarvate 7, Pradipta Pramanik (not out) 13, Mohammed Shami c Azharuddeen b Basil 26, Suraj Jaiswal (concussion sub for Mohammed Kaif) c Basil b Saxena 0; Total (in 46 overs) 198.

Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-63, 3-91, 4-106, 5-140, 6-140, 7-158, 8-159, 9-197.

Kerala bowling: Sarvate 18-2-72-3, Nidheesh 5-0-22-0, Jalaj 18-1-70-5, Basil 4-0-25-2, Vishnu 1-0-9-0.

Kerala — 2nd innings: Abhishek J. Nair lbw b Pramanik 0, Jalaj Saxena c Chatterjee b Pramanik 18, Abhishek P. Nair b Pramanik 0, Sachin Baby st. Porel b Pramanik 10, Vishnu Vinod (batting) 19, Salman Nizar (batting 0); Extras (b-5, lb-1): 6; Total (for four wkts. in 20 overs): 53.

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-15, 3-30, 4-51.