Kolkata : The 1st day of Ranji Trophy Final, where Bengal’s top order faced troubles & early collapses at Eden Gardens, Shahbaz Ahmed & Abishek Porel with blistering 69 (112) & 50 (98) kept Bengal into the game, which was dominated by Saurashtra in early half.
Being put into bat, Saurashtra’s 2 left arm pacers – Skipper Jaydev Unadkat & Chetan Sakariya created ruckus in Bengal’s top order, dismissing 3 Batsman within 2 overs…. main players like skipper Manoj Tiwary & star Batsman, centurian of semi final Anushtup Majumdar , Akash Ghatak too followed them cheaply. At this point , Bengal were 65-6 , when left arm all rounder Shahbaz Ahmed & wicket keeper young turk Abishek Porel stepped in. Though, the top order of Bengal seemed to be struggling badly especially against the left arm pacers, the duo rather played comfortably against them… within a short span of time, their partnership reached 101 , with Shahbaz scoring 69(112) & Abishek Porel with 50(98)…though it got Bengal back on track, it was broken with the introduction of Dharmdrasinh Jadeja & Chetan Sakariya who took Shahbaz & Abishek respectively. Bengal’s innings after the duo’s dismissal was short lived & were bowled out for 174. Both the left arm pacers from Saurashtra – Unadkat & Sakariya picked 3 wickets each, dismantling the Batting line up.
In reply with the Bat, the visitors went off to a flying start with the help of keeper Batsman Harvik Desai, who scored 38* (51) consisting 6 boundaries & a 6. Bengal also, managed to strike 2 blows by the end of the day namely Jay Gohil & in form looking Vishvaraj Jadeja , falling to Akash Deep & Mukesh Kumar respectively.
At the end of the day Saurashtra ended with 81-2 . We hope to see fighting actions in rest of the day, just like the 1st day itself.
DAY 1
1st Innings (Bengal Batting)
Bengal : 174(54.1)
Shahbaz Ahmed : 69(112)
Abhishek Porel : 50(98)
Saurashtra
Jaydev Unadkat : 3/44
Chetan Sakariya : 3/33
1st Innings (Saurashtra Batting )
Saurashtra : 81-2 (17.0)
Harvik Desai : 38*(51)
Bengal
Mukesh Kumar : 1/23
Akash Deep : 1/28
