Majumdar salvages Bengal innings

Kolkata, February 29

Anustup Majumdar struck an unbeaten century after a top-order collapse to take Bengal to 275/9 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semifinal against Karnataka. Fresh from his career-best 157 from a similar position in the quarterfinals, Majumdar slammed 120 not out to revive the Bengal innings after they were asked to bat first.

The first day’s play also saw the first dismissal via DRS in domestic cricket when Karnataka pace spearhead Abhimanyu Mithun got the wicket of Abhishek Raman (0) on the 16th delivery of the innings.

At 62/4, Bengal were staring down the barrel with their top batsmen, including skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (15) and Manoj Tiwary (8), back in the pavilion after playing reckless shots. Tiwary was caught by KL Rahul when he tried to hit off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham across the line, and No. 6 Majumdar walked in. But there was worse to follow for Bengal as Karnataka pacer Ronit More dismissed a well-set Sudip Chatterjee (20) and Shreevats Goswami (0) in four balls, and the home side were tottering at 67/6 at lunch.

But Majumdar revived the innings in the last two sessions, adding 72 with Shahbaz Nadeem and 103 for the ninth wicket with Akash Deep (44).

Gujarat restrict Saurashtra to 217/5 on Day 1

Rajkot: Powered by Arzan Nagwaswalla’s three-wicket haul, Gujarat restricted Saurashtra to 217/5 on the opening day of their semifinal.

For the hosts, Sheldon Jackson and Chirag Jani fought back with a 55-run stand for the sixth wicket. Jackson was unbeaten on 69 at the end of the day while Jani was on 16. Saurashtra openers Harvik Desai (35) and Kishan Parmar (37) gave the hosts a sedate start but Parmar was cleaned up by left-arm spinner Axar Patel (2/47). The openers added 62 runs for the first wicket. — PTI

Brief Scores: Bengal: 275/9 (Anustup Majumdar 120*; Akash Deep 44, Shahbaz Ahmed 35; Abhimanyu Mithun 3/65); Karnataka

Saurashtra: 217/5 (Sheldon Jackson 69*; Kishan Parmar 37; Arzan Nagwaswalla 3/40); Gujarat