Rajat Patidar scored an unbeaten half-century to put Madhya Pradesh in the driver’s seat against Bengal in the Ranji Trophy semi-final here on Thursday.
Continuing his dream, Patidar took center stage with an unbeaten 63 in MP’s second essay as his team took a crucial 78-run lead in the first innings.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman, who scored a century and two half-centuries in the recently concluded IPL, found himself at home as he smashed 10 boundaries in his 109-ball unbeaten innings to help MP get 163 for two at stumps on the third day. pushed on.
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For their first appearance in a Ranji final since 1998–99, MP now have a total lead of 231 runs, with skipper Aditya Srivastava at the other end backing Patidar with an unbeaten 34 off 90 balls.
Shubham Sharma (22) came to bat after retiring hurting his arm from a ball from Akash Deep just before tea, the MP captain looking not fluent but he kept Patidar in his unbroken 73-perfect company. Gave. run the union
Patidar, on the other hand, mixed caution with aggression as Bengal bowlers struggled to find success and MP slowly turned the momentum in their favor in the final session of the day.
There was hardly any pressure from the Bengal bowlers on the sprawling ground as both cleverly collected one and two to put pressure on them.
Earlier, starting the day at 197 for five, veteran Manoj Tiwary (102), who turned 84 overnight, completed his 29th first-class century, his second in a row.
He was backed by Bengal and RCB all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed (116), who scored his maiden first-class century overnight after resuming overnight on an individual score of 72.
Both formed the backbone, otherwise, in a poor batting performance by Bengal as eight of their batsmen failed to achieve double-digit scores.
Captain Abhimanyu Easwaran (22) was the only other batsman to score double digits as Bengal were bundled out for 273 in 89.2 overs in reply to MP’s 341.
In reply, MP got off to a shoddy start in their second innings as Mukesh Kumar dismissed Yash Dubey lbw with an angled length ball, which was slipping down, but umpire Vineet Kulkarni thought otherwise, allowing the pacer to take over. Found the 100th first class victim.
Sharma was relieved at nine after wicketkeeper Abhishek Porel dropped a sitter.
Bengal soon took the second wicket when Porel stumped Himanshu Mantri (21) who scored a century in the first innings.
But after that, it was Patidar show as he took on the Bengal bowlers with his fluent drive and flick, adding 40 runs for the third wicket before Sharma retired hurt.
Brief Scores:
Madhya Pradesh 341 and 163/2; 63 overs (Rajat Patidar 63 batting, Aditya Srivastava 34 batting).
Bengal 273; 89.2 overs (Shahbaz Ahmed 116, Manoj Tiwary 102; Puneet Date 3/48, Kumar Karthikeya 3/61, Sarshan Jain 3/63).
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