Shahbaz Ahmed and Abishek Porel’s commendable rescue act, in the form of brilliant half-centuries resulting in a seventh-wicket century-run partnership, saved Bengal the blushes following a disastrous start on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy final against Saurashtra at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat elected to bowl and executed his game plan perfectly to make life difficult for the home batters on a greenish surface in the morning.
Unadkat and company bundled Bengal out for 174 in the first innings before Saurashtra ended the day at 81 for the loss of two wickets. Left-handed pacers Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya lived up to the expectation and operated in tandem to wreak havoc.
They hit the right line and length and extracted impressive bounce and movement to remove five batters in a little over an hour.
Unadkat drew first blood in the opening over as Abhimanyu Easwaran was caught at forward short-leg for a duck.
Sakariya landed a double blow in the second over. Thirty-two-year-old debutant Sumanta Gupta was caught at second slip and Sudip Gharami was bowled shouldering arms.
Skipper Manoj Tiwary stretched out against Unadkat to be held at gully, and Anustup Majumdar edged Chirag Jani behind even after settling down.
Akash Ghatak became Sakariya’s third victim as Bengal tottered at 65 for six.
The experienced Shahbaz (69, 112b, 11x4) and the young Abishek (50, 98b, 8x4) batted with determination, playing each delivery on merit, to revive the innings.
With the pitch easing out, the duo gathered runs at a faster pace in the middle session – during which they achieved their fifties and a superb 101-run stand.
The two played some confident shots to the ropes. While Shahbaz primarily relied on cuts and flicks, Abishek chose drives and cuts.
They also rotated the strike amidst encouraging support from three thousand partisan spectators.
The defiant stand ended with spinner Dharmendra Jadeja having Shahbaz, who had a reprieve as a catch off Prerak Mankad was disallowed prior to lunch, caught at short-leg at the stroke of tea.
Batting on 42, Abhishek used DRS to survive an lbw decision and get his second consecutive half-century. He departed soon, playing Jani to first slip.
Dharmendra and Unadkat, who secured three wickets to claim 300 Ranji wickets, closed the Bengal innings early in the final session.
Saurashtra had a flying start as Harvik Desai hammered the wayward Bengal pacers. Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar got a wicket a piece to limit the damage.
The scores:
Bengal – 1st innings: Sumanta Gupta c Jackson b Sakariya 1, Abhimanyu Easwaran c Gohil b Unadkat 0, Sudip Gharami b Sakariya 0, Anustup Majumdar c Desai b Jani 16, Manoj Tiwary c Vishvaraj b Unadkat 7, Akash Ghatak c Unadkat b Sakariya 17, Shahbaz Ahmed c Vishvaraj b Dharmendra 69, Abishek Porel c Mankad b Jani 50, Akash Deep c Unadkat b Dharmendra 4, Mukesh Kumar c&b Unadkat 1, Ishan Porel (not out) 0, Extras (lb-7, nb-2) 9, Total (in 54.1 overs) 174
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-1, 3-2, 4-17, 5-34, 6-65, 7-166, 8-172, 9-174
Saurashtra bowling: Unadkat 13.1-3-44-3, Sakariya 13-4-33-3, Jani 11-2-33-2, Mankad 11-4-38-0, Dharmendra 6-1-19-2
Saurashtra – 1st innings: Harvik Desai (batting) 38, Jay Gohil b Akash Deep 6, Vishvaraj Jadeja c Abishek b Mukesh 25, Chetan Sakariya (batting) 2, Extras (b-5, lb-1, nb-4) 10, Total (for two wickets in 17 overs) 81
Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-73; Bengal bowling: Mukesh 6-1-23-1, Akash Deep 8-1-28-1, Ghatak 1-0-10-0, Ishan 1-0-12-0, Shahbaz 1-0-2-0.
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