By Admin 
Half-centuries from Sudip Gharami, Abishek Porel and Sumanta Gupta placed Bengal on a decent platform despite an exhibition of reckless shots on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group-C match against Gujarat at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday. Asked to bat, Bengal was at 244 for seven when bad light stopped play nearly 50 minutes before the scheduled close.
On a pitch that lacked pace and bounce, experienced Gujarat seamer Chintan Gaja, who returned to the XI while leading spinner Ravi Bishnoi was left out, showed discipline and tested the Bengal openers in morning. He provided the early breakthrough by finding Sudip Chatterjee’s outside edge.
Captain Abhimanyu Easwaran and Gharami displayed good understanding to gather runs in contrasting styles for a 67-run stand. Gharami (56, 90b, 12×4) impressed with his drives and cuts and collected most of his runs through boundaries.
In the zone: Porel unleashed cracking shots.
Their partnership ended when Abhimanyu was trapped in front by Gaja.
More trouble
Bengal was in for more trouble as Anustup Majumdar, who uncharacteristically lost patience after playing 13 dot balls and hit high, and Gharami threw away their wickets on either side of lunch while stepping out against left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai.
With the pitch easing out in the middle session, Porel (51, 71b, 9×4) and Sumanta (58 batting, 108b, 8×4) played freely. Abishek unleashed cracking drives and exquisite flicks, while Sumanta swept and pulled with authority and cut nicely to forge an important 83-run association.
A rash shot from Porel ended the stand. The left-hander swept across a delivery from outside the off-stump to be caught behind. It gave Siddharth his third wicket.
Shahbaz Ahmed fell cheaply, but Sumanta geared down responsibly to focus on running between the wickets and added 41 with Suraj Jaiswal. After scoring his second consecutive fifty, Sumanta remained unbeaten with Akash Deep at stumps.
The scores: Bengal — 1st innings: Sudip Chatterjee c Urvil b Gaja 3, Abhimanyu Easwaran lbw b Gaja 20, Sudip Gharami b Siddharth 56, Anustup Majumdar c Nagwaswalla b Siddharth 0, Abishek Porel c Urvil b Siddharth 51, Sumanta Gupta (batting) 58, Shahbaz Ahmed lbw b Nagwaswalla 2, Suraj Jaiswal lbw b Jayswal 21, Akash Deep (batting) 9; Extras (b-8, lb-14, w-2): 24; Total (for seven wkts. in 72 overs): 244.
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-75, 3-82, 4-95, 5-178, 6-183, 7-224.
Gujarat bowling: Nagwaswalla 17-1-44-1, Gaja 19-8-46-2, Priyajitsing 11-4-37-0, Jaymeet 3-1-18-0, Siddharth 17-2-55-3, Jayswal 5-0-22-1.
Toss: Gujarat.