A fluent century from Bengal skipper Anustup Majumdar kept Karnataka at bay on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Group ‘C’ encounter at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday.
Majumdar (101, 164b, 16x4) took Bengal to 249 for five, when bad light prompted the umpires to call off play. The 40-year-old Majumdar played with positive intent to record his 17th First-Class hundred.
Majumdar got going in style, skipping out of the crease to drive leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal between cover and mid-off. He also capitalised on deliveries on the pads, easing them past midwicket.
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Majumdar put on crucial stands in the company of opener Sudip Chatterjee (55) and Shahbaz Ahamed (54 batting).
Majumdar’s 232-minute vigil came to an end when he was adjudged leg-before off Shreyas. The decision upset Majumdar, who had advanced down the track a fair distance.
The Karnataka bowling unit fell flat, with only pacer V. Koushik making an impact. Koushik reaped the rewards for maintaining a tight length just outside off-stump, which led to Shuvam Dey, Chatterjee and Sudip Kumar Gharami all perishing to half-hearted edges.
With little support from the other end, a tireless Koushik bowled 18 tidy overs for the day.
Left-arm seamer Abhilash Shetty, making his debut, got good shape with the new ball. The wicket-taking nick, however, proved to be elusive.
Vidyadhar Patil, the third seamer, bumped it short far too often. On the rare occasions when he kept it full, Vidyadhar extracted movement.
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Left-arm spinner Hardik Raj entered the attack with a defensive field, and could not keep the pressure on the batters.
When the sun was out in the afternoon session, Karnataka had no answers. There were looseners aplenty, allowing the Bengal batters to score freely.
There was entertainment on offer late in the day, when Avilin Ghosh struck Shreyas for two big sixes. Wriddhiman Saha, now in his last season, stayed unbeaten on six.
Karnataka’s Nikin Jose was forced to leave the field after the ball struck his right eyebrow while fielding. Jose required medical care and did not take any further part in the action.
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