Uncapped left-arm pacer Yash Dayal, who was part of Test squad against Bangladesh, dismissed fellow India prospect Abhimanyu Easwaran early, but Bengal recovered through a century from Sudip Chatterjee and Sudip Gharami’s 90 to post 269/7 against Uttar Pradesh on day one of their Ranji Trophy Group C match.
Opting to bat, Bengal had a shaky start when Dayal removed in-form Easwaran for just 5 runs in the fifth over.
Abhimanyu, fresh from three consecutive centuries in the Duleep Trophy and Irani Cup, edged one from Dayal to wicketkeeper Aryan Juyal.
However, veteran Chatterjee, returning to Bengal after a stint with Tripura, showed immense resolve.
He forged a crucial 198-run second-wicket partnership with Gharami, helping Bengal recover from the early setback.
Chatterjee played a patient knock of 116 from 227 balls, hitting nine fours and a six. Gharami, equally impressive, contributed 90 off 161 balls, laced with 11 boundaries and a six.
Just as Bengal seemed to be in control at 212/1, the innings faltered.
The collapse began when debutant leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam dismissed Bengal captain Anustup Majumdar for 1, triggering a slide that saw Bengal lose six wickets for just 57 runs.
Dayal bowled only 10 overs, finishing with figures of 1/20, while the bulk of the damage was done by the spin duo of Nigam (4/59 from 16 overs) and left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar (1/88 from 30 overs).
Wriddhiman Saha, also returning to Bengal after a fallout with the state’s cricket board led him to join Tripura in 2022, had a forgettable outing, falling for a six-ball duck,
All-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed chipped in with a valuable unbeaten 26 from 38 balls, including two boundaries, to push Bengal to 269/7 by stumps.
Brief Scores:
In Lucknow: Bengal 269/7 in 82 overs (Sudip Chatterjee 116, Sudip Gharami 90, Shahbaz Ahmed 26 not out; Vipraj Nigam 4/59) vs Uttar Pradesh.
In Indore: Madhya Pradesh 232/4; 83 overs (Harpeet Singh 75 batting, Shubham Sharma 40) vs Karnataka.
In Rohtak: Bihar 78; 28.3 overs (Aman Kumar 3/18, Anshul Kamboj 2/17, Sumit Kumar 2/15, Jayant Yadav 2/17) vs Haryana 184/7; 54 overs (Kapil Hooda 33; Himanshu Singh 2/28, Sachin Kumar 2/40).
In Thiruvananthapuram: Punjab 95/5 (Aditya Sarwate 3/30, Jalaj Saxena 2/30).
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