Kamal Ghorui
Bengal stormed into the Ranji Trophy semifinals with a dominant innings and 90-run win over Andhra on Tuesday, completing a one-sided contest that had been set up by Sudip Kumar Gharami’s towering knock of 299. Andhra resumed their second innings on the final day at 64 for three, but the result was virtually sealed after they had already fallen 334 runs behind Bengal’s massive first-innings total on Day 4. With the pitch offering assistance and time running out, Bengal needed only patience and discipline to close out the game.
The hosts will now face Jammu and Kashmir in the semifinal beginning February 15. The other semifinal will see Karnataka lock horns with Uttarakhand. On Day 5, Andhra’s primary aim was to avoid an innings defeat, but left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed played a decisive role, exploiting the wearing surface to break resistance. Shahbaz finished with impressive figures of 4 for 72, while Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal chipped in with two wickets. Akash Deep, Sumanta Gupta and Anustup Majumdar claimed one wicket apiece. Mohammed Shami, currently out of favour at the international level, bowled just three overs in Andhra’s second innings after contributing with the bat in Bengal’s first-innings score of 629. For Andhra, Nitish Kumar Reddy stood tall amid the collapse, showing resolve in a gritty 90 off 144 balls, which included seven fours and two sixes. Chasing 270 to force Bengal to bat again, Andhra needed a substantial stand between Reddy and skipper Ricky Bhui. However, Bhui was dismissed by Shahbaz after adding only 12 runs to his overnight tally. Shahbaz soon accounted for Saurabh Kumar before removing Reddy to complete a fine spell. Tripurana Vijay scored 46 and Kalidindi Raju added 25, but their efforts merely postponed the inevitable as Gupta dismissed Vijay to seal Bengal’s emphatic victory. Wicketkeeper-batter KS Bharat did not take the field due to injury.
