Ranji Trophy: Bengal in a good position after Raman’s maiden Ranji ton

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Kolkata: A scintillating 176 by Abhishek Raman saw Bengal finish the first day of their Group D Ranji Trophy tie against Himachal Pradesh at a robust 306 for five.

The highlight of the day was some power batting by the lanky youth from Bengal who sent the visitors on a leather hunt once the early morning moisture was neutralized. He scored freely and looked to be in regal touch. By tea he notched up his tonne and formed a very productive fourth wicket partnership with skipper Manoj Tiwary who remained unbeaten on a personal score of 78 off 132 balls with 8 boundaries and 1 six.

Their partnership yielded 163 runs and was broken against the run of the play when Abhishek was caught by Kumar off Dogra for 176.

Earlier, Himachal won the toss and made an early breakthrough removing Abhimanyu Easwaran (4) cheaply. Sudip Chatterjee (15) and Koushik Ghosh (27) also lost wickets cheaply.

Bengal lost the fifth wicket in the dying minutes of the game today when Wriddhiman departed on 2. At stumps Sreevats Goswami gave company to Skipper Tiwary.

None of the Himachal bowlers made any impression or caused undue worries. Four of them got their name in the wickets column taking a wicket a piece.