Last Update: January 12, 2023, 21:07 IST
Bengal will have to show a lot of patience if they hope to beat Baroda – three for 53 chasing a daunting target of 177 at the end of the third day in a Ranji Trophy Group A match.
On an eventful third day when 14 wickets fell, Bengal’s first innings ended on 191, with just two runs added to their overnight score.
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They then had their fast bowlers Mukesh Kumar (4/43) and Ishan Porel (3/22) to thank to bowl Baroda out for 98 in the second innings.
Put into bat the second time around, Bengal found themselves in trouble, cheaply losing their entire top-order including opener Abhishek Das (7), India A captain Abhimanyu Easwaran (9) and Anustup Majumdar (9), leaving them in trouble. I have come A position of 53 for three, and a target of 187 is looking like an insurmountable task.
With skipper Manoj Tiwary – a veteran of 135 first-class games who is nearing the 10,000-run milestone – still to come and Sudeep Gharami holding up one end with an unbeaten 28, Bengal could still reverse their course. But he will have to bat with confidence on the last day.
Earlier, Baroda found their chase of 269 in the first innings tough, managing just one single figure in double digits in the second essay. Like Pratyush Kumar, his 62 not out off 149 balls and the diligence he showed while facing Mukesh and Porel was the talk of the town in Bengal. Cricket Academy Ground.
The 27-year-old opener, playing only his eighth first-class game, kept his attacking instincts in check as he reached his half-century and remained unbeaten until he lost partners.
Abbreviated Score:
In Kalyani: Baroda 269 & 98 in 44 overs (Pratyush Kumar n; Mukesh Kumar 4/43, Ishan Porel 3/22) v Bengal 191 in 59.3 overs (Anustup Majumdar 90; Soyeb Sopariya 3/43, Sejadkhan Pathan 5/48) & 53 wickets 3 in 28.3 overs (Soyeb Sopariya 2/15).
In Rohtak: Nagaland 88 and 72 in 23 overs (Amit Rana 7/24) lost to Haryana 229 for 7 in 49 overs (Yuvraj Singh 75, Rohit Sharma 38; Imliwati Lemtur 4/76) by 69 runs.
In Nadaun: Odisha 191 & 374 in 95.5 overs (Govinda Poddar 135, Prayas Singh 73, Suryakant Pradhan 50n) vs Himachal Pradesh 258.
in Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh 142 in 67.5 overs (Sameer Choudhary 49, Angeat Tiwary 4/27, Abhay Negi 3/47) vs Uttarakhand 65 for 2 in 19 overs (Kartikeya Jaiswal 2/21).
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)