Majumdar, Gharami scored centuries but Madhya Pradesh came back with the second new ball

Experienced Anustup Majumdar and youngster Sudeep Gharami struck centuries under pressure to strengthen Bengal’s position but defending champions Madhya Pradesh managed to make a late comeback on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semi-finals on Wednesday. Majumdar (120) and Gharami (112) shared a 414-ball 241-run partnership as Bengal bounced back from 51 for two. Madhya Pradesh, however, dismissed both of them in quick succession with the second new ball to reduce Bengal’s score to 307 for four. At the end of the day’s play, Captain Manoj Tiwari was playing for five while Shahbaz Ahmed was playing for six runs.

Majumdar faced 206 balls and hit 13 fours and a six during his 13th first-class century. Gharami took advantage of the lifeline from Rajat Patidar on the score of 26 runs to score his fourth century. He faced 213 balls and hit 12 fours and two sixes. Innings from Majumdar and Gharami saw Bengal dominate the second session. Madhya Pradesh used seven bowlers during the day’s play, with Anubhav Agarwal being the most successful bowler, taking two wickets for 21 runs.

Fast bowler Avesh Khan took one wicket for 79 runs. Madhya Pradesh made a comeback with the second new ball. Avesh lbw Mazumdar on a yorker in the 82nd over. Agarwal then tripped Gharami as well. After the dismissal of both the remaining batsmen, Avesh and Agarwal troubled the Bengal batsmen a lot in the last over but did not get success.

Bengal captain Tiwary won the toss and elected to bat first in the morning and young all-rounder Karan Lal opened the innings along with Abhimanyu Easwaran. Easwaran (27) and Karan (23) added 51 runs for the first wicket but were dismissed in successive overs thereafter. Ishwaran was bowled on an inside ball from Gaurav Yadav. Agarwal also bowled Karan on these swings after this.