Saurabh Tiwary after hitting a century in the tie against Kerala; Sreesanth (far right) applauds his efforts. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Dec. 12: Saurabh Tiwary’s 125 put the hosts in a comfortable position at the Ranji Plate group tie against Kerala at Keenan Stadium today.

At the end of first day Jharkhand managed 291/8. Looking to make a comeback to the Indian team S. Sreesanth bagged four wickets. The bowler is out of first class cricket for the past six months due to injuries.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, the hosts lost three quick wickets in first session of the game. Openers Subrato Ghosh and Manish Vardhan were out cheaply for 21 and 24 runs, respectively. Vardhan became a victim of Sreesanth’s swinging delivery.

The hosts were struggling at 72/3 when Ishan Jaggi went for a duck. At the end of first session, the hosts were at 104/3.

Youngster Saurabh Tiwari played a brilliant knock and put the hosts in a comfortable position. His 125 of 187 balls comprised of 14 fours and one six. Aamir Hasmi and Keshav Kumar played cautiously with the flamboyant Tiwari.

While Hasmi scored 20 of 56 deliveries, Kumar put up a 100-run partnership with Tiwari and scored 34 of 81 balls. The hosts only lost Hasmi in the second session of the game.

However, the Kerala team managed to get back into the game in last session bagging four wickets.

Sreesanth was the pick of the bowlers and took the prized wicket of Tiwari, who was caught behind the wicket. Sreekumar Nair, P. Prasanth, S. Cheruvathur and R Fernandez bagged one wicket each.

Kerala has to win this game and earn bonus points to move to the next round.