Bengal struggled to get rid of centurion Ricky Bhui (107 batting), who is the thorn in their quest to earn the crucial three points from their Ranji Trophy opener against Andhra in Visakhapatnam.
Bhui hit his 15th first-class hundred that helped Andhra to 339/6 at stumps on the penultimate day of this game, reducing the deficit to 70 after Bengal finished at 409 in their first innings.
Still 70 ahead, the morning session on Monday, the final day of the clash, will be vital for Bengal in terms of picking up early wickets and moving closer to the first-innings lead which will secure them those three points.
“It’s not that our bowlers bowled badly. The wicket being a batsman’s paradise, I would say they did quite a decent job. There’s not really much help from that surface,” Bengal chief coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla said later.
Of the Bengal bowlers, quicks Akash Deep (2/81) and debutant Mohammed Kaif (2/37) have struck twice so far while spinners Pradipta Pramanik and Karan Lal haven’t been too effective yet.
“We hope we won’t be coming across such a surface again as getting wickets there has been hard,” Shukla added. “But having said that, the bowlers know what they need to do to make sure we get the first-innings lead.
“We don’t need to tell them much at this stage. They are quite aware of the situation and the task ahead of them.”
Debutant Kaif, younger brother of senior India pacer Mohammed Shami, was certainly the pick of the bowlers. He struck only once on Sunday, taking the wicket of Nitish Kumar Reddy who stitched a 71-run stand with Bhui for the sixth wicket, but Kaif ensured to remain disciplined right through.
On a flat pitch having hardly anything for bowlers, the pacer’s economy rate read 1.48 after bowling 25 overs so far. Even though he couldn’t take more than one wicket on Day 3, Kaif made sure the opposition batters, including Bhui, had to be cautious and careful against him.
Kaif, in fact, tried his best to get the better of Bhui, but just couldn’t breach the defences of the latter. Agreed, the pitch made matters easier for Bhui and the rest of the Andhra batsmen, but that doesn’t take away the focus and determination Bhui showed in his 243-run innings so far. Resuming on 119/3, the home team scored just 220 more on the day with captain Hanuma Vihari too contributing with 51.Brief scores: Bengal 409. Andhra 339/6 (R. Bhui 107 batting, H. Vihari 51; M. Kaif 2/37). At stumps, Day III.
Unbeaten 243
In Rajkot, Cheteshwar Pujara registered his 17th double hundred in first-class cricket before Prerak Mankad (104 not out) put Saurashtra in command against Jharkhand on Day 3.
Pujrara, resuming on 157, ended with 243 not out off 356 balls as Saurashtra declared their first innings at 578/4, gaining a massive lead of 436.
Jharkhand openers Kumar Deobrat (74 batting) and Nazim Siddique (45) batted with a lot more purpose in the second innings before twin strikes from medium pacer Mankad left them at 140/2 at stumps on Sunday.
