On a day dominated by pace bowlers from both sides, Madhya Pradesh held the upper hand over Bengal by taking a handsome first innings lead of 227 runs after skittling out the latter for a paltry 121 in their Ranji Trophy quarter final at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.
Choosing not to enforce the follow-on, MP ended day two of the five-day game at 14 without loss in their second innings - for an overall lead of 241 - with openers Aditya Shrivastava, who top-scored with 65 in the first essay, batting on 10, and Saxena on 4.
Bengal did well this morning when their pace duo of Veerpratap Singh and Ashok Dinda utilised the second new ball, taken last evening, productively to grab the last six wickets of MP for the addition of 94 runs to the overnight 254 for 4.
The duo showed better control on a helpful track than on Wednesday to share six wickets equally this morning and restrict MP to 348 after they appeared headed for a much bigger total when play commenced on Thursday morning.
However, the Bengal batsmen showed little application, barring opener Abhimanyu Easwaran who stood tall when wickets fell around him to make a gritty 48, as the MP pace attack led by Ishwar Pandey, sliced through their top order.
Captain Manoj Tiwary (3) and Test wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha (0) were dismissed in successive overs in Pandey’s incisive second spell of 5-2-8-2.
Brief scores
MP: 348 (A Shrivastava 65, N Ojha 64, D Bundela 58, Harpreet Bhatia 51, A Dane 39; A Dinda 3/85, Veerpratap Singh 5/76) and 14/0 lead Bengal: 121 (A Easwaran 48; I Pandey 4 for 45, P Datey 3 for 30, C Sakure 3 for 38)
saurashtra in driving seat
Opener Sagar Jogiyani and India A batsman Sheldon Jackson hit contrasting centuries with Saurashtra taking full control against Vidarbha in their quarter-final match.
In reply to Vidarbha’s paltry 151, Saurashtra scored 375 riding on Jogiyani’s 130 and Jackson’s attacking 122. Together they added 206 runs for the fourth wicket to take match away from Vidarbha’s grasp.
Having taken a lead of 224, Vidarbha were 17 for no loss in their second innings.
With a lead of 207, Saurashtra bowlers will go for the kill in their aim to finish the match on the third day itself.