Sudip Kumar Gharami kept Bengal in the hunt for the first innings lead against Andhra in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal game at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground in Kalyani, West Bengal.
At stumps on the second day, Bengal were 199 for five with Sudip Kumar batting on 112 off 191 balls with 15 fours and giving him company was Sumanta Gupta on 22 (41 balls; 4×4). They have added 46 off 86 balls for the unbroken sixth wicket. Bengal are still 96 runs behind Andhra’s first innings score of 295.
Earlier, Nithish Kumar Reddy struck the first blow when he had Bengal skipper AR Easwaran (1) caught by Sk Rasheed with the scoring reading 9. Bengal lost two more wickets in the form of Sudip Chatterjee (13) and Anustup Majumdar (9) both of whom were sent back to the pavilion by K V Sasikanth.
But No.3 bat Sudip Kumar and Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (20) strung a 80-run partnership to revive the innings. Sudip Kumar was the dominant partner as he scored 56 off 88 balls while Suraj made 20 but more importantly he stood his ground against the Andhra bowlers. Suraj was bowled by Tripurana Vijay and then Shahbaz (5) was castled by Saurabh Kumar to leave Bengal delicately placed at 153 for five.
But Sudip and Sumanta denied Andhra further success as they shut shop.
On the first day of play, Andhra, who were put into bat, had a good start with openers Abhishek Reddy (18) and KS Bharat (47) laying a solid partnership. After Bharat left, Andhra wobbled a bit but Ricky Bhui (83) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (33) added 108 for the fifth wicket to help Andhra reach 295.
Mukesh Kumar took five for 66 and Akash Deep claimed four for 79 for Bengal.
Brief scores: Andhra 295 in 88.4 overs (KS Bharat 47, SK Rasheed 46, Ricky Bhui 83, K Nithish Kumar Reddy 33; Mukesh Kumar 5/66, Akash Deep 4/79) vs Bengal 199/5 in 63 overs (Sudip Kumar Gharami 112 batting, Sumanta Gupta 22 batting; K V Sasikanth 2/43).
