A dominant batting performance followed by two crucial wickets at the end put Bengal in a strong position against Madhya Pradesh at stumps on Day 2 in the Ranji Trophy semifinals at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Thursday.
After putting up a challenging score of 438 in their first innings, Bengal reduced the defending champions to 56/2 at the end of day’s play.
Bengal wicket-keeper batsman Abishek Porel was the star performer of the day for his fine knock of 51, while Akash Deep and Ishan Porel also stepped up bagging one wicket each at the end.
Resuming the day from overnight score of 307/4, Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary (42) and Shahbaz Ahmed (14) managed to add 16 runs in the morning before Shahbaz fell in the eighth over of the day.
Abishek came in to provide a fine support to his skipper at the other end.
The duo stitched together a crucial 78-run partnership for the sixth wicket to take the visitors past the 400-run mark.
Tiwary, who looked determined for a big score, fell cheaply to reduce Bengal to 401/6.
But Abishek played with positive intent, smashing eight boundaries in his 102-ball innings to hand the visitors some valuable runs at the end.
After his dismissal, spinner Pradipta Pramanik (21) too scored a handy knock as MP managed to bowl the visitors out in the 142nd over.
Kumar Kartikeya (3-95) was the pick of the bowlers for MP.
In reply, Himanshu Mantri (23) and Yash Dubey (12) go the home side off to a positive start.
But Akash Deep and Ishan dismissed both the openers to ensure Bengal ended the day on a high.
For MP, Saransh Jain (17) and Anubhav Agarwal (4) remained unbeaten as stumps were drawn on the second day.
