Ranji Trophy Final: Anustup Majumdar, Manoj Tiwary fight but Saurashtra still on top

Bengal still trail Saurashtra by 61 runs after 99-run stand between their most experienced batters

Fifties from Anustup Majumdar and captain Manoj Tiwary ensured Bengal lived to fight another day as the hosts ended the third day of the Ranji Trophy final trailing Saurashtra’s first innings by 61 runs. The bowling wasn’t as incisive as it should have been as they allowed Saurashtra to finish with 404 before the openers disappointed again on Saturday at the Eden Gardens.

Bengal's skipper Manoj Tiwary plays a shot during the Final of Ranji Trophy 2022-23 between Bengal and Saurashtra (Bibhash Lodh)

Bengal finally found their resilience in Tiwary and Majumdar as they added 99 runs for the fourth wicket. With Tiwary still at the crease with Shahbaz Ahmed, who had scored 69 in the first innings, Bengal have a fighting chance of making something happen out of this. Saurashtra, on the other hand, don’t need to do anything out of the box on what is still a difficult pitch to bat on in the morning session.

Resuming on 317/5, Saurashtra lost Arpit Vasavada in the first over as Mukesh Kumar got him to chase a ball moving away from him and edge to the wicketkeeper. Overnight batter Chirag Jani tried to accelerate but couldn’t connect a cross shot to Mukesh. Ideally, Bengal should have restricted Saurashtra’s lead to under 200, given the ninth wicket had fallen at 369. But this is where Bengal further lost control of the game, allowing Saurashtra to add 35 runs for the last wicket and ending the innings on a high. This was the second time in a row that Saurashtra had scored in excess of 400 in the first innings.

Chetan Sakariya rode that momentum, getting movement off a flattened Eden Gardens pitch and luring debutant Sumanta Gupta into poking at a ball leaving him in the second over of Bengal’s second innings. With scores of 1 and 1, this was a sobering lesson for Gupta who must have felt out of depth against the quality of Jaydev Unadkat and Sakariya. More disappointing was Abhimanyu Easwaran’s dismissal at a time when Bengal needed a big score from their opener.

Easwaran flicked through square-leg for a boundary and sliced another past gully before Sakariya again got him with the leaving delivery. No 3 Sudip Gharami was looking tentative against the moving ball till Unadkat got him to edge to second slip. At 47/3, Bengal looked in danger of folding up but their most experienced batters got together in a counter-attacking partnership.

Majumdar in particular looked in good touch, caressing boundaries through covers and behind square while Tiwary tried to stand out of the crease to negate the swing. The momentum swung Bengal’s way a bit when Saurashtra introduced Dharmendrasinh Jadeja’s spin, allowing them to rotate the strike. But Saurashtra was again on the money, this time skipper Unadkat providing the much-needed breakthrough. It was a full and wide delivery from around the wicket that did the trick, inducing a hard drive from Majumdar and getting an edge that flew to gully.

Ahmed didn’t curb his natural instinct that gave Bengal a respectable first innings score, slashing Unadkat over backward point for four before getting a thick edge off Sakariya that eluded gully. Tiwary though went into a shell, scoring just one from the last 13 balls he faced. There are two days left in this final but Saurashtra will back themselves to wrap up the game by Sunday if the first hour goes their way. Bengal, on the other hand, can’t plan beyond one session at a time.