Kerala were reduced to 112-4 after Sanju Samson opted to bat at the St Xavier’s College Ground before Sachin Baby (124) and Akshay Chandran (106) added 179 for the fifth wicket. Kerala were eventually bowled out for 363 on day two as Shahbaz Ahmed claimed 4-73 and Ankit Mishra 3-84.

MD Nidheesh then got a wicket for Kerala, but Abhimanyu Easwaran (72) helped Bengal reach 107 before Jalaj Saxena induced a collapse. A stalwart of Indian domestic cricket, Saxena had made 40 from the top in the Kerala innings.

By stumps on the second day, Saxena had reduced Bengal to 172-8, and bowled them out for 180 by the third morning. He took the last nine wickets to finish with a career-best haul of 9-68. His previous best of 8-36 came in the previous season, against Services.

Saxena’s figures are also the first nine-wicket haul by anyone against Bengal. The record used to be with Manohar Hardikar of Bombay, who had taken 8-39 at Calcutta in 1955/56.

Overs – 21.1
Maidens – 3
Runs – 68
Wickets – 9
Economy – 3.2

Jalaj Saxena has recorded his career-best bowling figures in first-class cricket 🔥

📸: KCA#JalajSaxena #Kerala #RanjiTrophy #Cricket #KERvsBEN pic.twitter.com/sOyndtHWuS

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) February 11, 2024

The best figures for Kerala, however, are still Amarjith Singh’s 9-45 against Andhra in 1971/72 – the only other nine-wicket haul by a bowler from that team.

Saxena became the second bowler to take nine wickets in an innings in the Ranji Trophy in this decade, after debutant Jotin Pheiroijam Singh claimed 9-69 last season. Of course, Ajaz Patel’s 10-119 are the best in first-class cricket since 2020 on Indian soil.

A giant in the Indian domestic circuit, Saxena has over 6,500 runs, and is fast approaching the 450-wicket mark in the Ranji Trophy.

Samson did not enforce the follow-on. At the time of writing, Kerala were 217-4 with Shreyas Gopal (24) and Mohammed Azharuddeen (15) at the crease after Saxena made 37. They lead by exactly 400 runs with over four sessions left.