Abishek Porel curbed his attacking instinct to score his maiden hundred and put Bengal in a comfortable position on the second day of its Ranji Trophy Group-B match against Chhattisgarh at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.
Bengal rode on the 21-year-old Abishek’s important century to finish the day at 381 for eight in its first innings after play resumed in the post-lunch session due to bad light.
Even though the delayed start denied the Chhattisgarh pacers the advantage of bowling in the morning session, the touring bowlers hit the right areas and kept Bengal in check.
FOLLOW | AS IT HAPPENED
The overnight pair of Anustup Majumdar and Abishek (114, 219b, 14x4, 1x6) added 41 more to form a 120-run stand. Anustup’s careful innings ended when Sourabh Majumdar’s delivery took the outside edge and went to the second slip.
With conditions easing out, Abishek gathered 46 runs with debutant Shubham Chatterjee.
For the flamboyant Abishek, whose previous best was 73, it was a different role. He enjoyed a bit of luck and stayed put against the disciplined Chhattisgarh pacers. Despite being troubled by Ravi Kiran, who extracted extra bounce due to his high arm action and some movement from the surface, the left-hander hung on to achieve a personal milestone.
Absorbing pressure and playing an uncharacteristically slower knock, Abishek, who scored the majority of his runs between third man and cover regions, was relieved after reaching the three-figure mark in the final session. He was bowled by Vasudev Bareth.
“I practised leaving the bouncers in the morning. Coach L.R. Shukla told me that I must bat for six hours to get a hundred. I followed his advice,” said Abishek.
Karan Lal forged an unbeaten 50-run partnership with the big-hitting Suraj Jaiswal to strengthen Bengal’s position.
Chhattisgarh seamers stuck to their task with Sourabh, Bareth and Shashank capturing two wickets apiece.
The scores:
Bengal -- 1st innings: Sourav Paul lbw b Bhutte 12, Shreyansh Ghosh c Eknath b Bareth 22, Sudip Gharami c Ashutosh b Sourabh 49, Anustup Majumdar c Ashutosh b Sourabh 71, Manoj Tiwary b Ravi Kiran 19, Abishek Porel b Bareth 114, Shubham Chatterjee lbw b Shashank 21, Karan Lal (batting) 24, Mohammad Kaif b Shashank 5, Suraj Jaiswal (batting) 33, Extras (lb-9, w-1, nb-1) 11, Total (for eight wickets in 128 overs) 381
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-71, 3-93, 4-127, 5-247, 6-293, 7-326, 8-331
Chhattisgarh bowling: Ravi Kiran 29-9-71-1, Sourabh 25-5-72-2, Bhutte 12-0-36-1, Gagandeep 18-0-66-0, Bareth 27-6-85-2, Shashank 17-3-42-2
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