Koushik Ghosh and Anustup Majumdar’s unbeaten 95-run partnership saved Bengal heading in the right direction for victory over Uttar Pradesh in its Ranji Trophy Group-A match on the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
After Uttar Pradesh, starting from in a single day 122 for 4, closed its second innings at 227 and set a goal of 257, Bengal scored 156 for 2 at stumps on the penultimate day.
The host wants one other 101 runs on the ultimate day to safe an outright victory.
With 5 periods at its disposal, Bengal started positively and maintained run price on a pitch that regarded flatter.
Following Abhisek Das’ dismissal within the third over, Koushik and Sudip Gharami batted with confidence so as to add 43 runs for the second wicket.
Gharami departed after poking Mavi within the 14th over.
The skilled duo of left-handed opener Koushik (69 batting, 121b, 10×4) and Anustup (44 batting, 88b, 6×4) made mild of their injured arms to bat responsibly and tilt the competition in Bengal’s favour. They selected the free deliveries to get boundaries and rotated the strike properly.
A decided Koushik, who was dropped twice, showcased his photographs on both aspect and bought his third half-century.
A routine rescuer, Anustup displayed his disciplined recreation and supplied optimism to the house aspect.
Earlier, the in a single day unbeaten pair of Rinku Singh (89, 113b, 12×4) and Akshdeep Nath (53, 71b, 7×4, 1×6) batted resolutely to forge a 102-run affiliation.
Akash Deep supplied the breakthrough as Nath hooked straight to deep fine-leg after reaching his 50.
A single-minded Rinku, who scored his second successive half-century of the match, carried on to assist Uttar Pradesh set a good goal. The southpaw, who reduce Pritam Chakraborty to 3rd man, was the eighth wicket to fall.
Bengal bowlers’ mixed effort didn’t let the Uttar Pradesh second essay lengthen past the opening session.
The scores:
Uttar Pradesh – 1 st innings: 198
Bengal – 1 st innings: 169
Uttar Pradesh – 2 nd innings: Madhav Kaushik b Akash 19, Aanjaneya Suryavanshi b Ishan 4, Priyam Garg lbw b Ishan 0, Karan Sharma lbw b Mandal 5, Rinku Singh c Akash b Chakraborty 89, Akshdeep Nath c Mandal b Akash 53, Aaradhya Yadav b Shahbaz 5, Shivam Mavi c Tiwary b Mandal 5, Shivam Sharma (not out) 26, Aaqib Khan b Chakraborty 7, Ankit Rajpoot c Chakraborty b Akash 8, Extras (lb-3, nb-1, w-2) 6, Total (in 65.3 overs) 227
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-6, 3-27, 4-40, 5-142, 6-159, 7-183, 8-185, 9-197
Bengal bowling: Ishan 19-3-70-2, Akash 19.3-2-52-3, Chakraborty 13-1-48-2, Mandal 8-0-24-2, Shahbaz 6-1-30-1
Bengal – 2 nd innings: Abhisek Das c Priyam b Mavi 9, Koushik Ghosh (batting) 69, Sudip Gharami c Priyam b Mavi 22, Anustup Majumdar (batting) 44, Extras (b-4, lb-7, nb-1) 12, Total (for 2 wickets in 42 overs) 156
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-61
Uttar Pradesh bowling: Mavi 11-1-46-2, Rajpoot 9-0-24-0, Aaqib 9-1-27-0, Shivam 7-1-28-0, Karan 6-1-20-0.