Bengal pulled themselves out of a hole once again, and the one who came to their rescue was crisis man Anustup Majumdar.

Put into bat by Himachal Pradesh in pace-friendly conditions, Bengal were reeling at 44/5 on the first morning of this Ranji Trophy encounter at Eden Gardens. But thanks to Majumdar’s unbeaten 159, which was adorned with 21 boundaries and two maximums, Bengal recovered to 310/9 at stumps on Day 1.

Over the last few years, Majumdar has performed in crises. Even in the opening game against Uttar Pradesh last week, he had played a match-winning knock of 83.

Pacer Sidharth Sharma (5/69) had rocked Bengal’s top order with subtle movement and a bit of extra bounce. Making matters more worrisome for Bengal, stand-in captain Manoj Tiwary too was one of the five wickets to fall inside the first 18 overs of the game.

Held back and sent at No.5 with seamer all-rounder Sayan Sekhar Mondal promoted to No.4, Majumdar took his time to settle down with the conditions too beginning to ease up.

And once he was set, he began looking more and more solid, finding a perfect ally in Shahbaz Ahmed (49).

The duo ensured Bengal suffered no further damages till lunch, taking the team total to 88 for 5. Shahbaz did miss out on what would have been a well-deserved half-century, but he certainly played his part in forging a 110-run sixth-wicket stand with Majumdar, who was flawless at the other end.

Fortunately for Majumdar, Akash Deep (34) stood up with the bat again as their 65-run stand enabled Bengal to cross 250. Having reached his 11th first-class hundred with a leg glance for four, Majumdar was in complete control, dictating the Himachal attack in the unbroken 50-run stand with No.11 Ishan Porel (six batting).

Changing his gear to the next level batting with Porel, Majumdar single-handedly took Bengal past 300.

Brief scores: Bengal 310/9. (A. Majumdar 159 batting; S. Sharma 5/69) vs Himachal Pradesh. At stumps, Day 1.