While watching Anustup Majumdar raise his bat in front of a sparse crowd after completing his century at the Chinnaswamy Stadium against Karnataka, on Wednesday, there were flashbacks of his game-breaking innings versus the same opponent, in the same tournament, four years ago.
In the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy semi-final between the two sides, Anustup had charted Bengal’s astonishing comeback with a 207-ball 149. His knock didn’t just help Bengal recover from a precariously placed 67/6, but also took them to a match-winning score of 312 in tricky conditions for batting. Fast-forward to the present times, and his 101 in the Ranji Trophy fixture today took Bengal to safer waters, as they ended up with 249/5 at stumps on Day 1.
Vasuki Koushik, renowned for his ability to hit good areas for long periods, had started the day on a perfect note for Karnataka, removing Shuvam Dey and Sudip Gharami. At 21/2, Anustup found an able ally in Sudip Chatterjee as the pair strung together a timely alliance of 100. Sudip was content to use the crease and nurdle the spinners – Hardik Raj and Shreyas Gopal – via square of the wicket on both sides.
Even when Vidyadhar Patil, the medium pacer, began proceedings after the lunch break, Sudip’s scoring areas were mostly through the backward point region. Ultimately, the ever-persevering Koushik dislodged him. Meanwhile, Anustup was willing to offer mostly a straight bat while facing the seamers. After the lunch interval, he changed gears and collected 16 boundaries before finally falling to Gopal.
In fact, Gopal and Hardik did trouble the experienced batter with the ball turning away from him. Unfortunately for Karnataka, a couple of tough chances were not taken by the slip fielder. Shahbaz Ahmed, another of the mainstays of the Bengal unit, then composed a crucial fifty to ensure his side maintained a slight edge at close of play.
At the fag end of the day, Abhilash Shetty, who made his first-class debut on the back of a shin injury to Vidwath Kaverappa and Vijaykumar Vyshak’s selection for the T20I series versus South Africa, removed Avilin Ghosh for 22. The spirited left-arm pacer bowled a few zestful spells. Koushik, however, was the star performer for the home team, returning with 3/29 from 18 overs. Gopal, the leg-spinner, seemed to be in a mood to give the ball a little more air and got some nice drift. Although he could only pick up a solitary wicket.
Karnataka, who are third on the points table in their group, would be eyeing early breakthroughs on Day 2. On the other hand, Bengal would aim for a total in excess of 400.
Brief Scores: Bengal 249/5 (Anustup Majumdar 101,Sudip Chatterjee 55; Vasuki Koushik 29) vs Karnataka