Bengal seized control in their Ranji Trophy Group C game against Services, being played in Kalyani.
Robust batting from the experienced Sudip Chatterjee and Habib Gandhi, followed up by enterprising pace bowling from Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep and Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal gave the home team a definite edge over the visitors on the second day of the match.
Resuming on an overnight score of 140, Sudip completed his maiden double ton — 209 — off 318 deliveries as Bengal posted a healthy 519 in their first innings on Friday.
Sudip was supported by Habib, who remained not out on 91 and the two shared a crucial stand of 147 for the sixth wicket.
Once they had the cushion of runs, the Bengal pacers came out firing. Services kept losing wickets at regular intervals with Shami (2/27 in 11 overs), Akash Deep (3/31 in 7 overs) and the young Suraj (3/29) reducing their opponents to 126/8 when the stumps were drawn on Friday.
With a lead of 393 runs in hand and just two more wickets to get, Bengal will likely enforce the follow-on if they can wrap up Services’ first innings in quick time on Saturday. Full points from this game will help Bengal a great deal in their endeavour of securing a knockouts berth.
The highlight of the day was of course Sudip’s double century. The left-handed batter hit 18 fours and a six in his mature innings.
But once Sudip was dismissed, the Bengal lower-order batters failed to last long, which resulted in Habib missing out on a well-deserving century. Bengal could add only 27 runs after Sudip’s dismissal. Habib hit 10 boundaries in his innings.
Praising his players after the second day’s play, Bengal head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla said: “It is a wonderful achievement for Sudip to score a double hundred. Our bowlers did well, but there’s still a lot of cricket left in the game. We have to start well tomorrow (Saturday) and finish the game on a winning note.”
Brief scores: Bengal 519 (Sudip Chatterjee 209, Habib Gandhi 91; Vineet Dhankar 3/50, Arjun Sharma 2/139). Services 126/8 (Nakul Sharma 32 batting; Mohammed Shami 2/27, Akash Deep 3/31, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 3/29). At Stumps, Day II
