Sudip Gharami’s second successive half-century and Anustup Majumdar’s fighting knock strengthened Bengal’s position against Gujarat on the penultimate day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group-C match at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.
After wrapping up Gujarat’s first innings for 167, the host scored 170 for seven in its second essay for an overall lead of 282 runs.
Gujarat, resuming on 107 for seven, relied on skipper Manan Hingrajia’s defiant unbeaten 80 (252b, 9×4) to avoid the follow-on and deny Bengal a bigger lead.
Hitting his boundaries between third-man and long-off, the left-handed Hingrajia led the tailenders to gather 60 valuable runs for Gujarat as Bengal could not apply enough pressure. Shahbaz Ahmed claimed two more to accomplish a six-wicket haul, while Shami got his third.
In the absence of Sudip Chatterjee, who injured his left knee while fielding on Sunday and was replaced by Kazi Saifi, makeshift opener Gharami and captain Abhimanyu Easwaran added 55 runs.
Left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai, who took four wickets in the first innings, flighted the ball with precision and extracted some turn to scalp four more in a marathon 18-over spell.
He delivered two quick blows as Abhimanyu swept it to mid-wicket and Saifi played forward to edge one to the wicketkeeper.
Later, he dismissed Sumanta Gupta and Shahbaz.
Left-arm pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla, who got a hint of reverse swing to trouble the Bengal batters and accounted for Gharami and Abishek Porel, combined well with Siddharth to put pressure on the home batters.
On a slow pitch offering low bounce, Gharami (54, 93b, 9×4) got most of his fours through cuts and flicks. He added another 38 with Majumdar before being adjudged lbw.
Majumdar (44 batting, 81b, 7×4), who was bowled off a Siddharth no-ball on 24, rode his luck to hold one end as Bengal looked to stretch its lead further.
The scores:
Bengal — 1st innings: 279.
Gujarat — 1st innings: Abhishek Desai lbw b Shami 0, Aarya Desai b Akash 8, Siddharth Desai b Shami 19, Manan Hingrajia (not out) 80, Umang Kumar c Chatterjee b Shahbaz 18, Jaymeet Patel b Shahbaz 0, Urvil Patel b Shahbaz 15, Vishal Jayswal c sub (Saifi) b Shahbaz 0, Chintan Gaja c Abhimanyu b Shahbaz 4, Arzan Nagwaswalla lbw b Shahbaz 12, Priyajitsing Jadeja c Abishek b Shami 0; Extras (b-9, lb-1, nb-1): 11; Total (in 76.3 overs): 167.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-9, 3-39, 4-70, 5-76, 6-96, 7-96, 8-108, 9-146.
Bengal bowling: Shami 18.3-6-44-3, Akash 16-7-31-1, Ishan 11-4-25-0, Jaiswal 12-3-23-0, Shahbaz 19-5-34-6.
Bengal — 2nd innings: Sudip Gharami lbw b Nagwaswalla 54, Abhimanyu Easwaran c Nagwaswalla b Siddharth 25, Kazi Saifi c Urvi b Siddharth 1, Anustup Majumdar (batting) 44, Abishek Porel b Nagwaswalla 1, Sumanta Gupta lbw b Siddharth 11, Shahbaz Ahmed st. Urvil b Siddharth 20, Suraj Jaiswal (batting) 7; Extras (b-4, lb-2, nb-1): 7; Total (for six wkts. in 48 overs): 170.
Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-57, 3-95, 4-105, 5-129, 6-159.
Gujarat bowling: Gaja 6-0-20-0, Nagwaswalla 13-1-58-2, Priyajitsing 7-0-29-0, Siddharth 18-6-48-4, Jayswal 4-0-9-0.
Published – October 27, 2025 07:40 pm IST
