Gharami’s chanceless ton keeps Bengal in the hunt against Andhra

 Gharami’s industrious and chanceless century bailed Bengal out of trouble and enabled it to put up a fight against Andhra on the second day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground here on Saturday.

Resuming at 264 for six, Andhra finished its first innings at 295.

In reply, Bengal overcame a forgettable start to close the day at 199 for five.

Andhra seamers bowled an ideal line and length and got some movement to deny Bengal a good start. Nitish Kumar dealt an early blow by having Bengal skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran caught spectacularly at cover by S.K. Rasheed.

Sasikanth extracted help from the surface and bowled Sudip Chatterjee in his first over. He had Anustup Majumdar caught, with a feather touch getting confirmed by DRS, by substitute ‘keeper Revanth Reddy (owing to K.S. Bharat’s injury) at the stroke of lunch as Bengal was reduced to 43 for three.

Gharami (112 batting, 191b, 15×4) and Suraj Jaiswal showed application and steadied the boat. A focused Gharami played the ball on merit, equally valuing running between the wickets and hitting boundaries. He pulled, flicked and drove confidently, apart from sweeping the spinners well.

A disciplined Jaiswal complemented him by holding the other end.

Off-spinner T. Vijay bowled Jaiswal through the gate to break the patient 80-run stand after the tea break.

Southpaw Shahbaz Ahmed was undone by left-arm spinner Saurabh, who turned it sharply from the rough outside the off-stump.

The determined Gharami reached his century, pulling pacer K.S. Raju for four, during an unbeaten 46-run partnership with a sensible Sumanta Gupta.

Earlier, Bengal pacers Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep bent their backs on a pitch offering variable bounce and used the rising deliveries to good effect. Mukesh scalped Sasikanth and Raju to complete his five-for. Akash dismissed Vijay and Saurabh to claim four.

The scores: Andhra – 1st innings: Abhishek Reddy c Gandhi b Akash 18, K.S. Bharat c Shami b Mukesh 47, Shaik Rasheed c Chatterjee b Mukesh 46, Ricky Bhui c Shahbaz b Akash 83, C.R. Gnaneshwar c Shahbaz b Shami 7, Nitish Kumar c Akash b Mukesh 33, T. Vijay c Majumdar b Akash 3, K.V. Sasikanth c Shahbaz b Mukesh 13, Saurabh Kumar b Akash 18, K.S. Raju c Shami b Mukesh 1, K. Saiteja (not out) 4; Extras: (b-9, lb-5, nb-8): 22; Total (in 88.4 overs): 295.

Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-89, 3-129, 4-147, 5-255, 6-257, 7-271, 8-283, 9-285.

Bengal bowling: Shami 17-4-38-1, Mukesh 22-5-66-5, Jaiswal 14-3-53-0, Akash 21.4-3-79-4, Shahbaz 14-1-45-0.

Bengal – 1st innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran c Rasheed b Nitish 1, Sudip Chatterjee b Sasikanth 13, Sudip Gharami (batting) 112, Anustup Majumdar c (sub) Revanth b Sasikanth 9, Suraj Jaiswal b Vijay 20, Shahbaz Ahmed b Saurabh 5, Sumanta Gupta (batting) 22; Extras (b-7, lb-4, nb-4): 17; Total (for five wkts in 63 overs): 199.

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-27, 3-43, 4-123, 5-153.

Andhra bowling: Nitish 8-1-29-1, Saiteja 10-3-20-0, Sasikanth 12-1-43-2, Raju 13-3-36-0, Saurabh 15-5-35-1, Vijay 5-1-25-1.

Published – February 07, 2026 08:10 pm IST