Bengal rode on Abhimanyu Easwaran’s fine unbeaten double hundred to hold a firm grip over its Ranji Trophy Group-B match against Bihar at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.
Resuming from 111 for two, Bengal declared its first innings at 411 for five after securing a huge 316-run lead. Bihar was 39 for one at stumps on the second day.
Abhimanyu (200 n.o., 291b, 23x4) carried on from where he had left off on the first day. Starting from 48, the seasoned opener gathered runs all around the park and scored his 23rd century.
Batting according to the situation, Abhimanyu formed several substantial partnerships - 90 with Anustup Majumdar (39, 89b, 6x4), 80 with captain Manoj Tiwary (30, 70b, 4x4), 94 with Abishek Porel (56, 54b, 9x4, 1x6) and 55 with Shahbaz Ahmed (29 n.o., 29b, 5x4) – as Bengal gathered runs at a good rate to reach a formidable position.
Tiwary, who was given a guard of honour by the opposition players and the umpires while coming out to bat for the final time, departed to a debatable leg before decision and returned to another round of guard of honour from teammates.
After Abhimanyu, who was dropped on 152 and was caught off a no-ball on 185, got to his double hundred, Bengal declared its innings. The accomplished batter completed 7,000 First Class runs.
Ashutosh Aman, who claimed the wickets of Anustup and Tiwary, was the most successful Bihar bowler.
The visitors lost Piyush Kumar Singh to Mukesh Kumar in the second ball of its second essay, but Mangal Mahrour and Rishav Raj prevented any further damage.
The scores: Bihar - 1st innings: 95.
Bengal - 1st innings: Shakir Habib Gandhi b Veer Pratap 19, Abhimanyu Easwaran (not out) 200, Karan Lal c Bipin b Ravi Shankar 28, Anustup Majumdar lbw b Ashutosh 39, Manoj Tiwary lbw b Ashutosh 30, Abishek Porel (run out) 56, Shahbaz Ahmed (not out) 29, Extras (lb-4, nb-4, w-2): 10; Total (for five wickets decl. in 104.1 overs) 411.
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-92, 3-182, 4-262, 5-356
Bihar bowling: Veer Pratap 21.1-4-74-1, Y.P. Yadav 8-1-40-0, Raghuvendra 12-1-68-0, Gani 20-3-52-0, Ravi Shankar 17-1-66-1, Ashutosh 17-0-64-2, Paramjeet 9-1-43-0.
Bihar - 2nd innings: Piyush Kumar Singh lbw b Mukesh 0, Mangal Mahrour (batting) 19, Rishav Raj (batting) 12, Extras (lb-1): 1; Total (for one wicket in 14 overs): 32.
Fall of wicket: 1-0.
Bengal bowling: Mukesh 4-2-4-1, Jaiswal 5-1-15-0, Shahbaz 2-0-10-0, Tiwary 2-1-2-0, Kaif 1-1-0-0.
