Riding on an impressive performance by the bowlers, Bengal restricted Baroda to 222/7 at stumps on Day 1 in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A clash at the Bengal Cricket Academy in Kalyani on Tuesday.
Akash Deep (4-67) and Mukesh Kumar (3-50) were superb with the ball as bad light forced early stumps with 81 overs bowled in the day.
Earlier, opting to bat, Baroda dealt an early blow as Mukesh got rid of opener Pratyush Kumar (0) in the eighth over with only 10 on the board.
From there on, Jyotsnil Singh (85) and Priyanshu Moliya (50) held the innings firmly to add 96 runs for the second wicket before the Moliya fell to Akash Deep.
The middle order failed to contribute as skipper Vishnu Solanki (6) and Shashwat Rawat (4) fell cheaply to reduce the visitors to 125/4.
Despite wickets at the other end, Jyotsnil played a fighting knock, striking 13 boundaries in his innings to take the team to a respectable score at the end of the day.
The right-handed batsman, who looked in fine touch throughout the day, was unlucky to get himself out in the dying minutes of the day.
Bengal kept the pressure on the visitors with wickets at regular intervals as Mahesh Pithiya (27) and Soyeb Sopariya (5) kept their cool to remain unbeaten at the end of the day’s play.
Source: CAB Media
Report- Pratyusha Mukherjee