Captain Manoj Tiwary’s century and Suraj Jaiswal’s superb all-round performance put Bengal in the driving seat against Assam on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Group-B match at the ACA Stadium, Barsapara, here on Saturday.
Resuming from 242 for four, Bengal scored a healthy 405 in its first innings. In reply, Assam tottered at 99 for eight at stumps.
Overnight batters Anustup Majumdar and Tiwary gathered 211 runs before the former fell to Mrinmoy Dutta. Last match’s centurion Abishek Porel departed soon.
Tiwary, beginning from 68, batted patiently to achieve his 30th hundred (100, 264b, 9x4) and formed a 37-run partnership with Karan Lal before being dismissed by medium pacer Akash Sengupta.
Karan (52, 113b, 8x4) and Jaiswal (52, 75b, 4x4, 2x6) combined again for another fruitful stand worth 74 runs.
Assam seamer Mukhtar Hussain captured two more wickets to return figures of four for 86.
The Bengal new ball bowlers, Mohammad Kaif and Jaiswal, bowled a good line to reduce Assam to four for 35 by the 10th over. Jaiswal underlined his utility by accounting for three of the four, all of them caught behind.
Without batting mainstay and captain Riyan Parag, who got injured while fielding on Friday and did not come out to bat, Denish Das (50, 51b, 8x4) showed some aggression. He was bowled by left-arm spinner Ankit Mishra.
Saahil Jain fought a lone battle to remain unbeaten on 36.
Kaif, who had removed opener Rahul Hazarika in his first spell, also claimed two lower order batters to be among wickets after a forgettable outing against Chhattisgarh.
Sitting pretty, Bengal remains hopeful of securing its first outright win.
The scores: Bengal – 1st innings: Sourav Paul lbw b Mukhtar 12, Shreyansh Ghosh lbw b Mukhtar 13, Mohammad Kaif b Parag 2, Sudip Gharami lbw b Rabha 10, Anustup Majumdar c Jain b Mrinmoy 125, Manoj Tiwary c Hazarika b Sengupta 100, Abishek Porel c Sengupta b Rabha 0, Karan Lal c Jain b Mukhtar 52, Suraj Jaiswal c&b Rahul 52, Ankit Mishra b Mukhtar 0, Suman Das (not out) 1; Extras (lb-18, nb-19, w-1): 38, Total (in 131.4 overs): 405.
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-28, 3-28, 4-57, 5-268, 6-270, 7-307, 8-381, 9-388.
Assam bowling: Mukhtar 38.4-8-86-4, Mrinmoy 20-4-71-1, Parag 6-1-17-1, Rabha 14-1-54-2, Sengupta 18-5-59-1, Rahul 35-2-100-1.
Assam – 1st innings: Rishav Das c Abishek b Jaiswal 4, Rahul Hazarika c Abishek b Kaif 1, Denish Das b Mishra 50, Akash Sengupta c Abishek b Jaiswal 0, Sumit Ghadigaonkar c Abishek b Jaiswal 1, Saahil Jain (batting) 36, Dharani Rabha lbw b Mishra 0, Mukhtar Hussain c Abishek b Kaif 3, Rahul Singh b Kaif 1, Mrinmoy Dutta (batting) 0; Extras (lb-2, w-1): 3, Total (for eight wickets in 34 overs): 99.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-25, 3-25, 4-35, 5-78, 6-83, 7-88, 8-98.
Bengal bowling: Kaif 10-3-32-3, Jaiswal 9-1-25-3, Mishra 10-2-22-2, Suman 5-0-18-0.
