A seamless match of the century between two experienced batsmen Abhimanyu Easwaran (94 at bats, 156b, 13x4s) and captain Manoj Tiwari (50 at bats, 93b, 7x4s) saw Odisha win the Ranji Trophy at Eden brought back the Bengals after chasing the Group A leaders in the match. Here in the garden on Thursday.
In response to Orissa’s total of 265, Bengal rebounded from 39 to 2, and he fell to 100 in the first innings. Then the home side, which also benefited from Sudip Gharami’s half-century, in the second essay he was 220-3 and from the end he led by 55 runs on the second day.
Sailors in Orissa took advantage of the favorable conditions of the morning to achieve success.
The Night Watchman’s Pritam Chakraborty was knocked out in the second heat of the day. Sunil Roul bowled in good area, deflected the ball, scalped Abhimanyu and Tiwari in succession and completed a double strike to secure three wickets.
Suryakant Pradhan also conceded 3 wickets as Bengal’s innings collapsed in the first session and the hosts conceded a lead of 165 runs.
Reliable hitter Anustup Majumdar, who injured his thumb catch on day two, did not hit. With Bengal already in the quarter-finals, the team’s management wanted to keep Majumdar out of the round of 16.
Bengal then lost Karan his Lal cheaply, but Abhimanyu and Garami (50, 75b, 9×4) on his second wicket he laid the groundwork by piling up 82 runs. Roul put Sudip in back and Suvankar Bal in front, but Abhimanyu attacked with determination and formed a crucial partnership with Tiwary going unbeaten in 103 games.
The two batted carefully, changed batting and picked faulty deliveries to score boundaries.
Abhimanyu had excellent timing and placement, running all over the park. He played Playas Singh with four straight fours, middle of wicket, long off, cover and fine leg as Bengal erased the deficit in 51 overs. The opener surpassed 600 runs with this during that season. Tiwary cut a drive and offside to score a four, reaching 50 later in the day.