Bengal scripted an astonishing record during the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 quarterfinal against Jharkhand on Wednesday. The Bengal batters produced a collective show to post a mammoth 773/7 in front of Jharkhand in the first innings. It was a field day for the opposition as nine Bengal batters scored 50-plus to script history.
It is the first time in first-class cricket where nine batters from a team scored fifty-plus scores in an innings. Interestingly, only nine batters got the chance to bat for Bengal and none of them missed out in the crucial quarterfinal.
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Sudip Gharami and Anustup Majumdar were two batters who made it big and converted their fifties into three-digit scores. Gharami was the highest scorer for Bengal in the first innings with 186 runs. While Majumdar hit 117 runs.
Looking to accelerate the scoring rate, the 23-year-old Gharami’s stay in the middle ended with a contentious decision after which Bengal looked to nudge the ball around for ones and twos, rather than going for quick runs and declare their first innings.
With this knock, Gharami, son of a labour contractor who would borrow money from relatives to buy him cricket equipment, reposed the faith shown in him by head coach Arun Lal.
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There were no signs of urgency from Bengal and it remains to be seen how long they bat on the third day.
The unique record earlier belonged to visiting Australian team whose eight batters scored at least a half-century each against Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The massive record was set in 1893.
However, on Wednesday, Akash Deep played a blistering knock to help Bengal achieve the massive feat. The lower-order batter slammed 53 runs off just 18 balls in which he struck 8 sixes.
Sushant Mishra claimed three wickets for Jharkhand while Shahbaz Nadeem settled for just two.
While Bengal bowlers also backed their batters well as they reduced Jharkhand to 139/5 at stumps on Day 3. Sayan Mondal claimed three wickets, while all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed snared twice.
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