Ranji Trophy: Easwaran hundred puts Bengal in control on Day 2 against Uttarakhand

The centurion guided Bengal to 387 before the team’s bowlers reduced Uttarakhand to 104/6 at Stumps.

Abhimanyu Easwaran scored 165 runs in the first innings, his 5th consecutive hundred for Bengal. | Photo Credit: Swapan Mahapatra

Bengal rode on an all-round good performance from its batting and bowling departments to push host Uttarakhand to a tight spot and raise the possibility of result, at the end of the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A clash at Abhimanyu Cricket Academy on Wednesday.

Bengal scored a respectable 387 in its first innings before its bowlers came up with a disciplined performance to reduce Uttarakhand to 104 for six at stumps on Day 2.

Resuming on the overnight score of 269 for three, Bengal went for runs as Abhimanyu Easwaran and captain Manoj Tiwary (15) added 41 for the fourth wicket before the latter departed early. Easwaran, who looked on course for a double ton, saw his innings clipped at 165 (287b, 4x14, 6x1) when he was scalped by medium pacer Abhay Negi.

Shahbaz Ahmed (40 not out) added some valuable runs at the end along with Akash Deep (13) and Abishek Porel (10) to help Bengal compile a challenging total in its first innings.

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Uttarakhand started tottering from the beginning as Bengal bowlers forced regular breakthroughs to reduce the host to 48 for six by the 20th over. Bengal bowlers Pradipta Pramanik (2-17), Akash Deep (2-21) and Shahbaz Ahmed (2-34) came up with nice efforts.

Uttarakhand batters Kunal Chandela (40 batting) and Akhil Singh Rawat (32 batting) stemmed the rot with an unbeaten partnership of 56 runs for the seventh wicket. A lot depends on the two batters as Uttarakhand begins the third day 283 runs behind with just four wickets in hand.

Scorecard

Bengal - 1st innings: Sayan Shekhar Mandal b Mishra 18, Abhimanyu Easwaran 165 c Tare b Negi 165, Sudip Gharami c Jiwanjot Singh b Mishra 90, Anustup Majumdar b Mishra 3, Manoj Tiwary c Sudha b Abhay Negi 15, Shahbaz Ahmed 40 (not out), Abishek Porel c Rawat b Madhwal 10, Pradipta Pramanik b Mishra 0, Akash Deep b Mishra 13, Geet Puri lbw b Mishra 2, Ishan Porel c Tare b Sudha 0; Extras (b-8, lb-17, w-2, nb-4): 31, Total (in 120.5 overs): 387.

Fall of wickets: 1-84, 2-254, 3-269, 4-310, 5-319, 6-341, 7-342, 8-368, 9-376.

Uttarakhand bowling: Dhapola 27-7-69-0, Madhwal 17-1-81-1, Mishra 34-2-95-6, Negi 22-6-49-2, Swapnil Singh 18-2-60-0, Sudha 2.5-0-8-1.

Uttarakhand - 1st innings: Avneesh Sudha st Porel b Shahbaz 4, Jiwanjot Singh b Shahbaz 4, Kunal Chandela 40 (batting), Aryan Sharma b Pramanik 8, Swapnil Singh lbw b Akash Deep 4, Aditya Tare b Akash Deep 0, Mayank Mishra b Pramanik 0, Akhil Singh Rawat 32 (batting); Extras (b-0, lb-10, w-0, nb-2): 12, Total (for six wickets in 43.0 overs): 104.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-17, 3-38, 4-47, 5-47, 6-48.

Bengal bowling: Ishan Porel 8-5-12-0, Shahbaz 12-2-34-2, Akash Deep 10-4-21-2, Pradipta Pramanik 10-3-17-2, Geet Puri 3-1-10-0.