Bengal reach 206/4 on Day 1 against Chhattisgarh in Ranji Trophy


19th January 2024
Anustup Majumdar scored a fighting unbeaten 55 as Bengal reached 206/4 at stumps on Day 1 against Chhattisgarh in their third Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
As most of the batsmen found the going tough, Anustup stood tall as the top-scorer, smashing a fine half-century to remain unbeaten at the end of the day's play.
Enroute his knock, the 39-year-old crossed 5000 runs in first class cricket.
The veteran batsman was well supported at the other end by talented wicketkeeper-batsman Abishek Porel (47 batting).
The duo kept Bengal's hopes alive for a big score on the second day.
In his 94-ball innings, Anustup struck eight boundaries while Abishek smashed six fours and one six.
For Chhattisgarh, Jivesh Butte, Ravi Kiran, Sourabh Majumdar and Vasudev Bareth bagged a wicket each.
Earlier, put into bat, openers Shreyansh Ghosh (22) and Sourav Paul (12) got the home side off to a cautious start.
After seeing off the fast bowlers, Sourav fell victim to spinner Butte in the ninth over of the day.
After the early dismissal, Sourav partnering with incoming batsman Sudip Kumar Gharami (49) batted sensibly to add 51 runs for the second wicket before the left-handed batsman fell to Bareth after edging to wicketkeeper K Eknath to reduce Bengal to 71/2.
Gharami looked in fine touch, but his 81-ball knock, which included 8 boundaries, came to an end, leaving Bengal to 93/3.
Skipper Manoj Tiwary (19), on his farewell season, was off to a cautious start.
But his innings was cut short by Ravi as a surprising incoming delivery cleaned up the right hander.
From there on, Anustup and Abishek played sensibly to add a much-needed unbeaten 79-run partnership for the fifth wicket as bad light forced early stumps at the end of the 73th over.

CAB MEDIA DESK
Arindam Basu