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Calcutta/Vadodara: Sourav Ganguly scored his second half-century of the season before retiring due to a left hamstring pull as Bengal were only 21 runs short of surpassing Baroda’s score of 284 and thereby saving the threat of relegation from the Elite League of the Ranji Trophy.
It was mainly due to the former India captain’s knock of 60 (120 balls, 9x4) and his 93-run fifth wicket partnership with comeback man Anustup Majumdar (71 batting off 152 balls, 10x4) that helped Bengal reach 264 for four at stumps on the second day.
Majumdar also added valuable 73 for the unbroken stand with senior pro Laxmi Ratan Shukla (37 batting, 43 balls, 5x4) after Sourav left the field at the team total of 191.
“Sourav has a minor hamstring injury… If needed, he will bat again,” coach Woorkeri Raman said later.
However, it was the Sourav-Anustup partnership that gave Bengal hope after they were in a spot of bother at 98 for four with in-form Manoj Tiwary contributing just 9.
The law of averages finally caught up with Tiwary who has had scores of 132, 267 and 187 in the last three matches.
“We suffered a couple of soft dismissals before lunch… But we fought back,” said Raman.
Asked if Bengal would go for an outright victory, the coach said: “We will think about it after we get the lead…”
While three points will save relegation, a defeat could still jeopardise Bengal’s chances. Debutant opener Jayojeet Basu (17) was cleaned up by left-arm seamer Gagandeep Singh in the 12th over. His opening partner Arindam Das (17) failed to get going and his painstaking innings came to an end when he was caught by Rakesh Solanki in the slip off Firdaus Bhaja’s bowling.
Sourav hit his 89th first-class half-century on Thursday and has now scored 424 runs this season.
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