Pacers Suryakant Pradhan and Sunil Raul took six wickets each as Odisha bundled out Bengal for just 100 to follow-on on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match on Thursday. In reply to Odisha’s first innings total of 265, Bengal produced their worst performance of the season. Abhimanyu Easwaran scored maximum 27 runs for him. In the second innings, he took a lead of 55 runs by scoring 220 runs for three wickets. Easwaran is on his way to his 21st first-class century.
He is playing unbeaten 94 runs in 156 balls with the help of 13 fours while captain Manoj Tiwari has scored 50 runs. The first session was dominated by the Odisha bowlers who took eight wickets for 61 runs. Pradhan and Raul got three wickets each. The Bengal team has already reached the quarter-finals, so even a defeat will not affect them. Bengal is at the top with 32 points while Odisha is at the seventh position with eight points. In another match at Rohtak, Uttarakhand scored 125 for one in reply to Haryana’s 223. Avneesh Sudha 61 and Kunal Chandela are playing by scoring 32 runs. Baroda beat Nagaland by an innings and 343 runs in Vadodara. And in Nadaun, Himachal Pradesh scored 15 runs in four overs and four balls without loss against Uttar Pradesh.
