Bengal are eyeing an innings victory against Railways in Surat following another superb effort from their bowlers on the third day of their Ranji Trophy match.
After posting 474 in their first innings, Bengal bundled out Railways for 222 in their first innings. Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (4/35), Mohammed Kaif (2/48), Rahul Prasad (2/34), Shahbaz Ahmed (1/42) and Vishal Bhati (1/30) shared the wickets among themselves.
Following on, Railways were struggling at 90/5 at stumps, needing another 162 runs to avoid the follow on.
Shahbaz (2/26), Rahul (2/34) and Kaif (1/10) were once again among the wickets for Bengal.
Centuries from Anustup Majumdar and Sumanta Gupta had earlier propelled Bengal to 474 in their first innings.
Bhargav Merai (91) and Upendra Yadav (70) had earlier put up a resistance for the sixth wicket with a 148-run partnership for Railways. But once Kaif broke through Yadav’s defence on Monday morning, there was no looking back for Bengal.
The rest of the wickets collapsed in a heap and Railways were all out for 222.
Railways struggled in their second essay with the fall of regular wickets. They lost Zubair Ali in the second over of the innings and never really managed to get into their groove.
If Bengal manage to pull of a victory in this match, this will be their third triumph this season. Earlier this season, they had recorded victories against Uttarakhand and Gujarat. They had to settle for one point against Tripura after sacrificing the first innings lead in Agartala.
Jaiswal was unlucky to not get a wicket in the second innings after rattling Railways in the first innings. He had struck with the second ball of the innings to remove Zubair Ali for a duck, before dismissing Vivek Singh, Mohammad Saif and skipper Pratham Singh (11) in quick succession to leave Railways tottering at 16/4.
They never recovered from the shock despite a brief resistance for the sixth wicket.
Brief scores: Bengal 474. Railways 222 & 90/5 (Bhargav Merai 20 batting; Shahbaz Ahmed 2/26, Rahul Prasad 2/34). At Stumps, Day III.