Kolkata: Morning does not always show the day. Himachal Pradesh learnt it the hard way as Bengal, reeling at 44 for five at one stage, ended Day I of their Elite Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy match against them at 310 for nine at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday.
The man who made all the difference was Anushtup Majumder. The middle-order batter has been there and done that before a number of times and stood tall again when it mattered most, taking Bengal to a position of strength with his undefeated knock of 159 facing 205 balls and hitting 21 boundaries and two sixes.
Perhaps one of the most under-rated batters in domestic cricket, Majumder came to the crease when Bengal were reduced to 29 for three within the first 10 overs in the morning after Himachal skipper Rishi Dhawan won the toss and put the hosts in. He lost partners Sudip Kumar Gharami (5) and skipper Manoj Tiwary (3) soon after, but a 110-run sixth-wicket stand between him and Shahbaz Ahmed helped Bengal recover in the second session of play.
It was Himachal pacer Sidharth Sharma who drew early blood picking up openers Koushik Ghosh (4) and Abhishek Das (11) along with promoted Sayan Sekhar Mondal (0). Majumder looked confident right from the word go. Shahbaz too got going before Sharma returned to break the partnership by having the left-handed all-rounder caught for 49 at second slip by Prashant Chopra. Abhishek Porel’s brief stay in the middle was ended by pacer Vaibhav Arora with Chopra again taking the catch at second slip.
But Majumder, who had done it under similar situations against Odisha and Karnataka in the quarterfinal and semifinal respectively in the 2019-20 season of Ranji Trophy, appears to have mastered the art of batting with the tail. “I have the experience of playing in such situation and enjoy the challenge,” he stated after the day’s play. “I would not have played so many shots if we had more wickets in hand. I know how and when to protect my partner,” he added.
Majumder, who reached his 11st first-class three-digit mark in 148 balls, got his next 50 runs at almost a run-a-ball rate. Most of his scoring shots came across square of the wicket in the cover and mid-wicket regions. Akash Deep too boosted the score by playing some big shots that included three fours and two sixes before falling for 34. But it was the unbroken 50-run last-wicket stand between Majumder and Ishan Porel that took Bengal past the 300-run mark.
“I am still not satisfied as my job is not finished. There’s still some movement in the pitch and I will look to add as many runs as possible tomorrow morning,” he said.
SCOREBOARD
Bengal (1st innings): A Das lbw S Sharma 11, K Ghosh c P Thakur b S Sharma 4, S Gharami b R Dhawan 5, SS Mondal c A Kumar b S Sharma 0, A Majumdar batting 159, M Tiwary c A Kalsi b K Abhinay 3, S Ahmed c P Chopra b S Sharma 49, A Porel c P Chopra b V Arora 12, A Deep c A Kumar b M Dagar 34, R Singh b S Sharma 1, I Porel batting 6
Extras (b-11, lb-13, w-2): 26
Total (for 9 wkts in 78 ovs): 310
FoW: 1-20, 2-29, 3-29, 4-35, 5-44, 6-154, 7-188, 8-253, 9-260
Bowling: V Arora 15-2-40-1, S Sharma 19-2-69-5, R Dhawan 16-2-76-1, K Abhinay 16-6-49-1, M Dagar 11-1-38-1, A Vasisht 1-0-14-0.
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