Bengal got their name scripted in the history books as they became the first team to have nine batters scoring fifty plus in same innings of a First-Class match. The side achieved the feat on Wednesday during their ongoing match against Jharkhand in the quarter-final of the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy. (More Cricket News)
Jharkhand skipper Saurabh Tiwari won the toss and opted to bowl first against Bengal on Monday. What followed was complete dominance from the Bengal batters. Abhishek Raman and Abhimanyu Easwaran stitched 132 runs for the opening wicket. Easwaran fell on 65, while his partner Raman scored 61 before following him to the dug-out.
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Two of the half-centurions from the nine overall converted their scored into three digits. Sudip Gharami scored 186 while Anustup Majumdar hit 117. The other Bengal batters to cross the fifty-run mark were Manoj Tiwary (73), Abishek Porel (68), Shahbaz Ahmed (78), Sayan Mondal (53 not out) and Akash Deep (53 not out).
Akash’s knock came in just 18 balls. He hit eight sixes during his innings that had a strike rate of 294.44. On Wednesday, Bengal declared their innings at 773/7.
This has happened for the first time in First-Class cricket that the top nine batters of a team have scored at least fifty runs. In 1893, eight Australian batters scored fifties against Oxford and Cambridge Universities. They weren't the top eight batters though.
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Taling about other Ranji Trophy matches, Uttarakhand are facing Mumbai, Karnataka are playing against Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are fighting it out against Madhya Pradesh for semi-final spots.
The semi-finals of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season are slated to kick off on June 14 in Alur and Bengaluru. The final of the season starts on June 22 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
