Ranji Trophy: Sudip Gharami stands tall for Bengal again
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KALYANI: Sudip Gharami, who fell short of a triple ton by the slenderest of margins in the Ranji Trophy quarters, brought forth his best game again on Sunday. Against Jammu and Kashmir, in the opening day of the semifinal clash, he stood tall to take the hosts to a position of strength after Bengal were invited to bat. The visitors roared back late by picking up the wicket of Shahbaz Ahmed on the penultimate ball of the day at the Bengal Cricket Academy (BCA) ground.
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J&K got an early breakthrough when left-arm pacer Sunil Kumar got opener Sudip Chatterjee caught in the slips in the second over. But Gharami continued from where he left against Andhra in the quarter-final at this same venue last week when he got his career-best 299. The 26-year-old faced 227 deliveries to stay undefeated on 136 as Bengal went to stumps at 249 for five.
The first hour proved to be challenging for the Bengal batters as both opener Abhimanyu Easwaran and Gharami looked tentative against some precision bowling by the J&K pacers. Gharami survived two DRS calls, Easwaran a caught behind appeal. But the two gradually grew in confidence. Bengal went to lunch at 80 for one.
J&K hit back when star pacer Auqib Nabi bowled Easwaran in the second over after the break and had Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal caught behind to reduce Bengal to 89/3. Naib looked dangerous in his second spell after change of ends to pick two wickets. Shahbaz kept Gharami company, who reached his third ton this Ranji season in 144 balls with 15 fours and one six. J&K allowed Bengal to consolidate when wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan dropped a regulation catch off Shahbaz.
Brief scores: Bengal 249/5 (S Gharami batting 136, A Easwaran 49, Shahbaz 42; Nabi 2-48, Sunil Kumar 2-31) vs J&K.
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J&K got an early breakthrough when left-arm pacer Sunil Kumar got opener Sudip Chatterjee caught in the slips in the second over. But Gharami continued from where he left against Andhra in the quarter-final at this same venue last week when he got his career-best 299. The 26-year-old faced 227 deliveries to stay undefeated on 136 as Bengal went to stumps at 249 for five.
The first hour proved to be challenging for the Bengal batters as both opener Abhimanyu Easwaran and Gharami looked tentative against some precision bowling by the J&K pacers. Gharami survived two DRS calls, Easwaran a caught behind appeal. But the two gradually grew in confidence. Bengal went to lunch at 80 for one.
J&K hit back when star pacer Auqib Nabi bowled Easwaran in the second over after the break and had Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal caught behind to reduce Bengal to 89/3. Naib looked dangerous in his second spell after change of ends to pick two wickets. Shahbaz kept Gharami company, who reached his third ton this Ranji season in 144 balls with 15 fours and one six. J&K allowed Bengal to consolidate when wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan dropped a regulation catch off Shahbaz.
Brief scores: Bengal 249/5 (S Gharami batting 136, A Easwaran 49, Shahbaz 42; Nabi 2-48, Sunil Kumar 2-31) vs J&K.
