Ranji Trophy: Ton up Raman, Easwaran take Bengal to a commanding position against Punjab

Ranji Trophy match in Kolkata
Abhishek Raman remained 149 not out against Punjab today. Image Source: twitter

Internet Desk: Centuries from both the openers Abhishek Raman (149*) and Abhimanyu Easwaran (117) put Bengal in a commanding position against hosts Punjab in the first innings of a Ranji Trophy group D encounter. At the end of second day’s play Manoj Tiwary & Co. has reached 309 for 3 and they have a huge lead of 162 runs with 7 wickets still in hand.

Starting the day’s play at 76 for no loss, both the openers went on to score their respective tons against a very good bowling side of Punjab. Abhishek & Abhimanyu both shared a double century (222) stand for the first wicket to help the hosts tighten their grip in the game. Easwaran played a brilliant knock of 117 runs before to Siddarth kaul. He hit 11 boundaries and a gigantic six in his 286 balls innings. On the other hand the other opener, Abhishek Raman remained at the crease on 149 at the end of Day 2 along with Shreevats Goswami (29). Skipper Manoj Tiwary (4) and Sudip Chatterjee (4) didn’t produce much today as they fell cheaply. Bengal would be eyeing to take a lead of more than 300 runs in the first innings when they will come to bat on Day 3 as it is a must win game for them after they lost their last Ranji encounter against Vidarbha.

Both Easwaran and Raman said that they were determined to play long innings. “We decided to play as long as possible. The pitch had eased out a bit today as we wanted to take advantage of the fact. We kept telling each other and talking to each other and that helped. They were bowling a good line, but we were selective in playing our shots,” said Raman.

“It was all about concentrating and focussing. Once we got the start, we decided that we had to play a long innings, Very happy that the team has first ensured 3 points. Now we can look for six,” he added.

In another match, overnight batsmen Dega Nischal (195) and Manish Pandey (238) played brilliant individual knocks to help Karnataka post 642/7 at stumps against Uttar Pradesh on Day 2 of a sixth round match of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament here on Saturday.

Incoming batsman C.M. Gautam (4) and skipper Vinay Kumar (1) were at the crease when stumps were called in the Group A contest at the Green Park here.

Meanwhile, in the same group, Delhi skipper Ishant Sharma (3/14) bagged a three-wicket haul to allow his side take an upper hand against Mahrashtra who posted 59/8 to trail by 360 runs at the Palam A ground in New Delhi.

Earlier in the day, resuming play, Delhi posted 419 runs.

In Group B, Gujarat trio Priyank Panchal (152), Bhargav Merai (110) and Parthiv Patel (119 not out) played tremendous cricket to help their side post 450/3 against Rajasthan at stumps taking lead by 297 runs at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium in Surat.

In Group C, Odisha posted 64/2 against Baroda to trail by 439 runs at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara.

Earlier, resuming play, Baroda scored 503 runs.

Brief Scores

Delhi v Maharashtra, Group A

Delhi first innings: 419/10 (Nitish Rana 174, Rishabh Pant 99; Chirag Khurana 3/106)

Maharashtra first innings: 59/8 (Naushad Shaikh 23; Ishant Sharma 3/14)

Assam v Hyderabad, Group A

Hyderabad first innings: 326/10 (Bavanaka Sandeep 84; Arup Das 5/112)

Assam first innings: 136/10 (Gokul Sharma 39; Mudassar 5/36)

Assam second innings: 36/2 (Gokul Sharma 17*; Ravi Kiran 1/8)

Karnataka v Uttar Pradesh, Group A

Karnataka first innings:  642/7 in 180 overs (Manish Pandey 238, Dega Nischal 195; Imtiaz Ahmed 3/101)

Gujarat v Rajasthan, Group B          

Rajasthan 1st innings: 153 all out in 50 overs (Chintan Gaja 8/40)

Gujarat 1st innings: 450/3 in 128 overs (Priyank Panchal 152, Parthiv Patel 119*; Tajinder Singh 1/70)

Kerala v Saurashtra, Group B

Kerala first innings: 225 all out in 78 overs (Sanju Samson 68)

Saurashtra first innings: 232/10 (Robin Uthappa 86; Sijomon Joseph 4/43)

Kerala second innings: 69/1 (Jalaj Saxena 29*)

Jammu Kashmir v Haryana, Group B

Haryana first innings: 184/10 (Amit Mishra 41; Ram Dayal 5/57)

Jammu & Kashmir first innings: 175/7 (Ahmed Bandy 67; Ashish Hooda 2/38)

Tamil Nadu v Madhya Pradesh, Group C

Madhya Pradesh first innings: 264/10 (Ankit Sharma 77; Krishnamoorthy Vignesh 4/32)

Tamil Nadu first innings: 191/6 (N Jagadeesan 94*; Puneet Datey 3/36)

Baroda v Odisha, Group C

Baroda first innings: 503/10 (Ninad Rathva 115, Vishnu Solanki 109; Basant Mohanty 5/85)

Odisha first innings: 64/2 (Natraj Behera 24*; Vishni Solanki 1/6)

Mumbai v Andhra, Group C

Mumbai first innings: 332/10 (Prithvi Shaw 114; Bandaru Ayyappa 4/110)

Andhra first innings: 74/2 (Hanuma Vihari 29*; Abhishek Nayan 1/19)

Bengal v Punjab, Group D                            

Punjab first innings: 147 all out (Pradipta Pramanik 3/41, Bodupalli Amit 3/31)

Bengal first innings: 309/3 (Abhishek Raman 149*; Siddarth Kaul 2/84)

Goa v Vidarbha, Group D

Goa first innings: 239 all out (Keenan Vaz 72; Akshay Wakhare 4/50)

Vidarbha 199/2 (Sanjay Ramaswamy 87; Amulaya Pandrekar 1/37)

Chattisgarh v Services, Group D

Chattisgarh first innings: 130 all out (Manoj Singh 53; Diwesh Pathania 4/45, Vikas Yadav 3/10)

Services first innings 272 all out (Vikas Hathwala 76; Shahnawaz Hussain 5/59)

Chattisgarh second innings: 24/0 (Abhimanyu Chauhan 14*)