Photo: Instagram/ @ishanporel

Fast bowler Ishan Porel stole the show on day two of the Ranji Trophy semi-final between Bengal and Karnataka, with five wickets to his name to give his team a lead of 190 runs after the first innings.

Playing at the iconic Eden Gardens Stadium, the 21-year-old’s pace and bounce was too much to handle for a Karnataka’s batsmen as they were skittled out for 122 runs in a little less than two sessions.

Porel picked up a wicket of his very first over, getting the outside age of Karnataka opener Ravikumar Samarth which was gobbled up by Manoj Tiwary in the slips. The Bengal pacer accounted for opposition captain Karun Nair as well, dismissing him for a single digit score.

Porel was aided by some fine slip fielding from his Bengal colleagues, with all but one of his wickets coming through sharp catches behind the wicket. The pacer, who will by plying his trade for Kings XI Punjab in the VIVO Indian Premier League, also accounted for the wickets Devdutt Padikkal, Srinivas Sharath and Ronit More to leave the visitors in all sorts of trouble after the first innings of the semi-final.

The lanky pacer from Chandannagar ended the innings with his second-best domestic figures of 5/39, while fellow fast bowlers Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar picking up three and two wickets respectively.

Rahul, Gowtham avert follow-on

Karnataka had a day to forget with the bat in the first innings, but spirited performances by Kings XI Punjab captain KL Rahul and new recruit Krishnappa Gowtham helped avoid a follow-on.

Gowtham, who stole the show with his bowling performances in their previous game, scored a quickfire 31 of just 24 balls to make sure the lead for Bengal didn’t go beyond 200 runs. While Gowtham was the highest run-scorer for Karnataka in the first innings, KL Rahul was the second highest with 26, and did a fine job fending off the new ball against a fiery Ishan Porel.