Bengal's Chatterjee and Gupta Steer Team to Commanding Lead

Kolkata, Oct 16 (PTI) — Sudip Chatterjee narrowly missed out on a century, scoring 98, while an unbeaten 82 from Sumanta Gupta helped propel Bengal to a respectable 274 for six on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match against Uttarakhand on Thursday. The hosts now lead by 61 runs with four wickets in hand, following their effort that dismissed Uttarakhand for 213 on the first day.

Resuming from an overnight score of eight for one, Bengal's batters faced early difficulties against pacer Devendra Singh Bora, who wreaked havoc by dismissing skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran for a first-ball duck on the opening day. Bora went on to claim the wickets of Sudip Kumar Gharami (15) and Anustup Majumdar (35), leaving Bengal reeling at 63 for three before lunch.

After the lunch break, wicketkeeper Abishek Porel's innings (21 off 40 balls) also came to an end, putting Bengal in a tricky spot at 98 for four. Chatterjee and Gupta then stitched together a vital 156-run partnership for the fifth wicket, steadying Bengal's innings and negating the bowling threat through the afternoon and evening sessions.

Left-handed Chatterjee, a former India A player, played a composed innings of 264 balls, hitting 12 boundaries, but unfortunately fell just shy of a century, edging Bora to slip on 98. Meanwhile, Gupta remained undefeated on 82 from 149 deliveries, showcasing remarkable composure as he anchored the lower middle order, ensuring Bengal ended the day in a strong position.

Vishal Bhati (15) was the sixth man out, bowled by Rajan Kumar (1/45) just before the end of the day's play. Among the bowlers, Bora stood out for Uttarakhand, while left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith and seamer Abhay Negi bowled economically but went wicketless.

Bengal will aim to extend their lead when matches resume on Day 3, with hopes that Mohammed Shami and the rest of the tail can support Gupta in pushing the total beyond the 300-run mark.

Brief Scores:

In Kolkata: Uttarakhand 1st Innings: 213 all out. Bengal 1st innings: 274/6 in 92.5 overs (Sudip Chatterjee 98, Sumanta Gupta 82 not out; Devendra Singh Bora 4/65).

In Surat: Haryana 171 and 201/9 in 65 overs (Parth Vats 106 not out, Himanshu Sangwan 4/31) vs Railways 128 all out.

In Delhi: Services 359 all out in 133.3 overs (Nakul Sharma 96, Pulkit Narang 69; Swapnil K Singh 5/104) vs Tripura 56/4 in 34 overs (H Vihari 16; Amarjeet Singh 2/20).

In Ahmedabad: Assam 310 all out in 132.4 overs (Sibsankar Roy 113, Pradyun Saikia 70, Riyan Parag 40, Siddharth Desai 3/68) vs Gujarat 166 for no loss in 44 overs (Abhishek Desai 80 not out, Aarya Desai 79 not out).

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