Hyderabad staged a spirited fightback but Bengal still managed to take the first innings lead in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B game in Cuttack on Friday.
From 70/7, Hyderabad went on to finish their innings at 205 with skipper T. Ravi Teja and tailender Tanay Thyagarajan hitting resolute half-centuries. Bengal, who had scored 242 in their first essay, were 16/1 in their second innings when the stumps were drawn on the second day of the game.
Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar (4/49) removed four of the top five Hyderabad batsmen before Teja (81 not out) and Tanay (52) provided some resistance. The duo stitched a 109-run eighth wicket partnership. It was Manoj Tiwary who broke the partnership for Bengal with his part-time spin bowling.
“We were trying to get the rest after reducing Hyderabad to 70/7 but the wicket became much easier to bat on as the game progressed. We had to work hard to get wickets while the pitch became flat,” Mukesh said after the day’s play.
“This wicket is different from the last match… We knew things would get hard for us as the game progressed so our plan was to get as many wickets as we can in the early hours of the day,” he added.
Brief scores (At stumps, Day II): Bengal 242 & 16/1. Hyderabad 205; (T Ravi Teja 81 n.o., Tanay Thyagarajan 52; Mukesh Kumar 4/49).
Mumbai in trouble
Ranji Trophy giants Mumbai were on the mat after conceding a 164-run first innings lead against Goa in a Elite Group D game in Ahmedabad. After Mumbai were all out for 163 on Day 1, Goa batted well enough to score 327 in their first innings riding on 96-run eighth-wicket stand between Eknath Kerkar (71) and seamer Lakshay Garg (59). For Mumbai, Shams Mulani got 6/107.
Mumbai were 57/1 in their second innings at stumps on Friday. Prithvi Shaw smashing 44 off 47 balls before being dismissed. In a Elite Group H game in New Delhi, Delhi were reduced to 223/8, still 28 runs short of Jharkhand’s 251.
Vidarbha’s Ganesh Satish (275), Saurashtra’s Chirag Jani (235), Nagaland’s Shrikanth Mundhe (207) and Tamil Nadu’s Baba Aparajith(166) were among the big scorers of the day.
