Anustup Majumdar’s century and Sourav Paul’s 96 gave Bengal a hold over Andhra after the opening day of the Ranji Trophy group B fixture played at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Friday.
Majumdar pulled, cut, drove, and flicked while Sourav patiently found boundaries off bad balls. The two contrasting innings combined to build a solid platform for Bengal, which ended the day at 289 for four.
There were a lot of appeals, some desperate, but the Bengal duo shrugged off each delivery it missed en route to a 189-run stand for the third wicket. The partnership was broken when Sourav swept the ball straight to CR Gnaneshwar at midwicket.
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An hour later, and just an over before Stumps, Majumdar edged one to first slip and fell for 125.
But the only time Andhra had total control was in the first 45 minutes after being asked to bowl. KV Sasikanth and Nithish Kumar Reddy’s opening spell left both Bengal openers – Sourav and Shreyansh Ghosh – apprehensive. Wicket-to-wicket lines made captain Hanuma Vihari bring in a short-leg and Nithish immediately gave Andhra its first scalp as Shreyansh departed early.
Sudip Gharami and Sourav then got together to play out the rest of the session. Left-arm spinner Lalith Mohan bowled from one end while Vihari rotated his pacers from the other as Andhra choked the run-flow. Lalith’s consistency finally induced an edge off Sudip’s bat as Bengal lost its second wicket 20 minutes before Lunch.
However, with conditions becoming better for batting, Sourav and Majumdar accumulated as many runs as possible. Prithvi Raj Yarra’s short ball tactics and Sasikanth’s effort balls weren’t enough to put pressure on the batters.
To make things worse, wicketkeeper Ricky Bhui went off the field after being hit on the head in the third session and didn’t come back for the rest of the day.
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