CAB Super League final: Shami shines as Bagan takes big lead

Mohammad Shami took 5 for 42 to contribute significantly to his team Mohun Bagan getting a handy first-innings lead against Bhowanipore Club, on Day Two at the CAB Super League Final, played with a pink ball under lights. Mohun Bagan was positioned at 150 for 4 at stumps, ahead by 296.

The match is the first organised multi-day match played under lights in India.

Mohammad Shami relished his first experience of bowling with a pink ball to return a five-for as Mohun Bagan Athletic Club (MBAC) skittled out Bhawanipore Club for 153 runs in its first innings on the second day of the Super League final at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.

MBAC, which scored 299 in its first innings after being inserted in on the opening day, rode on Shami's dominant showing with the ball to take a substantial 146-run first-innings lead even after conceding 20 penalty runs for its slow over rate. MBAC was at 150 for four at the end of the second day's play to extend its overall lead to 296.

The second day belonged to Shami, who overcame a stiff neck to extract good movement and bounce to torment the Bhawanipore batsmen. Shami tasted success in the first over by claiming Santosh Sabanayakan, who was caught behind, with a rising delivery. The India pacer had Partha Sarathi Bhattacharya in the slips before taking a break because of his troubling neck.

Sanjib Sanyal and Sourav Mondal also bowled good lines to pick up three wickets and reduce Bhawanipore to 24 for five in the 11th over. Shami returned to bowl a six-over spell, which created a lot of chances and fetched him the wicket of Shubham Chatterjee.

As the MBAC seamers were again able to swing the pink ball under lights, Mondal added two more wickets to his one and Shami captured two more, including the wicket of top-scorer Uddipan Mukherjee (41). Uddipan and Sujit Yadav (32) had put on a 60-run partnership to take Bhawanipore past the 100-run mark.

The scores: MBCA 299 in 87.5 overs (Anustup Majumdar 83, Sanjib Sanyal 60, Mohd. Shami 36, Wriddhiman Saha 33, Vivek Singh 27, penalty 13, Ravikant Singh four for 46, Geet Puri two for 19, Writtick Chatterjee two for 73) and 150 for four in 38 overs (Arindam Ghosh 49 batting, Jayojit Basu 40, Vivek Singh 36, Ayan Bhattacharya four for 46) vs Bhawanipore Club 153 in 38.5 overs (Uddipan Mukherjee 41, Sujit Yadav 32, penalty 20, Mohd. Shami five for 42, Sourav Mondal three for 51).