Shahbaz Ahmed’s salvaging century (121, 203b, 8x4, 4x6) and an incisive spell from Mohammed Shami (three for 20) put Bengal firmly in control of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match against Kerala at the KCA Stadium, Mangalapuram here on Tuesday.

After hurting Kerala with the bat, Shahbaz proved to be the perfect ally for Shami with the ball. The duo dealt crippling blows to reduce Kerala to 101 for six at stumps on the second day.

Shami took three wickets in a superb execution of controlled aggression. Abhishek P. Nair (four) had no clue of the delivery which uprooted his off stump. Vishnu Vinod, dropped on 31 by Mohammed Kaif, played on after pushing tentatively at an incoming delivery. Salman Nizar (11) was then caught behind to leave Kerala reeling at 96 for five. Shahbaz extracted bounce from the surface and scalped the wickets of Sachin Baby (23) and Aditya Sarvate (0) to leave Kerala on the ropes.

Earlier, the sun shone brightly to ease out the pitch. The overnight pair of Shahbaz and Sumanta Gupta thrived under good batting conditions to stitch together a century stand for the seventh wicket. Sumanta was the enforcer in the resourceful partnership, never wasting an opportunity to punish the bad balls. By the time he fell one run short of a deserved fifty, Sumanta had swung the momentum in Bengal’s favour.

Shahbaz, after biding his time, chose his attacking moments wisely to progress to his third First Class century. After being reprieved on 91 by M.D. Niheesh at long-on off Sarvate, Shahbaz brought up his century in style by lifting the bowler over long off for a six. Shahbaz and Pradipta Pramank (27) added a crucial 59 runs for the eighth wicket to further frustrate the host.

The scores:

Bengal —1st innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran c Azharuddeen b Nidheesh 10, Ankur Paul c Abhishek P b Sarvate 66, Aamir Gani c Abhishek J b Basil 14, Sudip Gharami c Abhishek J b Basil 36, Sudip Chatterjee c Baby b Sarvate 6, Abhishek Porel c & b Saravate 0, Shahbaz Ahmed c Baby b Sarvate 121, Sumanta Gupta c Abhishek J b Saxena 49, Pradipta Pramanik b Basil 27, Mohammed Shami b Nidheesh 17, Mohammed Kaif (not out) 0, Extras (lb-4): 4; Total (in 102.2 overs): 350.

Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-66, 3-102, 4-108, 5-108, 6-170. 7-273, 8-332, 9-344.

Kerala bowling: Nidheesh 17.2-2-53-2, Basil 18-1-64-3, Abhishek P 2-0-14-0, Sarvate 32-8-95-4, Jalaj 25-2-73-1 Vaisakh 8-0-47-0

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 (batting) 5, Aditya Saravate c Easwaran b Shahbaz 0, Jalaj Saxena (batting) 0; Extras (b-1, 1b-4): 5; Total (for six wkts. in 35 overs): 101.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-26, 3-54, 4-95, 5-99, 6-97.

Bengal bowling: Shami 8-2-20-3, Kaif 7-1-20-0, Pramanik 10-3-37-1, Shahbaz 8-1-8-2, Gani 2-1-11-0.