Anustup Majumdar’s gritty century rescued Bengal from a hopeless 46 for five in a dramatic turnaround for them on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Odisha here on Thursday.
At stumps, Bengal were 308 for six.
Put in by a pace-heavy Odisha, Bengal found themselves in all sorts of trouble in the first session.
Suryakant Pradhan (2/96), Preet Singh Chohan (2/52) and Basant Mohanty (1/48) used the early moisture to advantage and blew away the Bengal top order.
But old warhorse Majumdar, playing in his sixth match of the season, led a turnaround with an unbeaten 136 (20 fours), a composed innings that came under tremendous pressure.
Majumdar, who will turn 36 next month, had scored 99 in a similar situation in their rain-affected drawn encounter against Delhi earlier this season.
Rookie all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed also showed a lot of maturity at No. 7, the left-hander slamming an unbeaten 82 to help Bengal take control in a fruitful final session
K’taka in trouble
Jammu: Karnataka were wobbling at 14 for 2 at stumps after only six overs were possible due to bad light on the opening day against Jammu and Kashmir.
Overcast skies meant the light alternated between poor to border-line for most part of the day.
Play started after tea and only six overs were possible during which Karnataka struggled against Jammu and Kashmir new ball pair of Aquib Nabi (1/6) and Mujtaba Yousuf (1/5).
Karnataka lost both their openers -- Ravikumar Samarth (5) and Devdutt Padikkal (2).
At the close of play, skipper Karun Nair was batting on four in the company of Krishnamurthy Siddharth, who is yet to open his account.
Patel scores hundred
Valsad: Skipper Parthiv Patel led from the front with his 27th first-class century and helped Gujarat reach 330 for four against Goa.
The left-handed batsman scored an unbeaten 118 off 156 balls at the Sardar Patel Stadium, hitting 15 boundaries off the Goa bowlers.
In the process, Patel also completed 11,000 first-class runs.
For Goa, Verma was the pick of the bowlers, while Darshan Misal and Vijesh Prabhudesai (1-60) took a wicket each.
This is Patel’s second hundred in Ranji knock-outs, the first being against Mumbai in the 2016-17 final.
Saurashtra post 226/6
Ongole: Fighting half-centuries by Vishvarajsingh Jadeja (73, 179 balls, 10 fours), Chirag Jani (53, 128 balls, 5 fours) and Sheldon Jackson (50) helped Saurashtra make 226 for 6 in 79 overs against Andhra.
For the home team, left-arm medium-pacer Yarra Prithvi Raj was impressive, picking up three wickets in 20 overs conceding 51 runs. K V Sashikanth picked up two wickets.
A lot will now depend on Jani and the lower-order including captain Jaydev Unadkat if Saurashtra has to post a fighting total in the last-eight match.