Kolkata, Jan 19 (UNI) Anustup Majumdar scored a fighting unbeaten 55 as Bengal reached 206/4 at stumps on Day 1 against Chhattisgarh in their third Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
As most of the batsmen found the going tough, Anustup stood tall as the top scorer, smashing a fine half-century to remain unbeaten at the end of the day’s play.
The veteran batsman was well supported at the other end by talented wicketkeeper-batsman Abishek Porel (47 batting).
The duo kept Bengal’s hopes alive for a big score on the second day.
In his 94-ball innings, Anustup struck eight boundaries while Abishek smashed six fours and one six.
For Chhattisgarh, Jivesh Butte, Ravi Kiran, Sourabh Majumdar, and Vasudev Bareth bagged a wicket each.
Earlier, put into bat, openers Shreyansh Ghosh (22) and Sourav Paul (12) got the home side off to a cautious start.
After seeing off the fast bowlers, Sourav fell victim to spinner Butte in the ninth over of the day.
After the early dismissal, Sourav partnered with incoming batsman Sudip Kumar Gharami (49) and batted sensibly to add 51 runs for the second wicket before the left-handed batsman fell to Bareth after edging to wicketkeeper K Eknath to reduce Bengal to 71/2.
Gharami looked in fine touch, but his 81-ball knock, which included eight boundaries, came to an end, leaving Bengal at 93/3.
Skipper Manoj Tiwary (19), on his farewell season, was off to a cautious start.
But his innings were cut short by Ravi as a surprising incoming delivery cleaned up the right-hander.
From there on, Anustup and Abishek played sensibly to add a much-needed unbeaten 79-run partnership for the fifth wicket as bad light forced early stumps at the end of the 73rd over.
