Opener Sudip Chatterjee scored a century as Bengal posted 269/7 in their first innings on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh on Friday.
Chatterjee, who was batting on 116 at the close of the day’s play, received excellent support from Sudip Kumar Gharami at the other end following the early dismissal of fellow opener Abhimanyu Easwaran.
Gharami missed out on what would have been a well-deserved century as he was caught behind off the bowling of Yash Dayal for a well made 90. The 32-year-old Chatterjee scored his 13th ton in first class cricket and his 198-run partnership with Gharami was the highlight of the day for Bengal after skipper Anustup Majumdar opted to bat after winning the toss.
However, leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam led the way with a four wicket haul as the Uttar Pradesh bowlers struck back to prevent Bengal from running away to a massive total. Nigam posted figures of 4/59 while Saurabh Kumar and Yash Dayal picked up a wicket each.
Meanwhile in Indore, Harpreet Singh posted a half-century as Madhya Pradesh took the upper hand against Karnataka with 232/4 at the close of the first day. Harpreet was batting on 75 when play was called off for the day. Vasuki Koushik, Prasidh Krishna, Vijaykumar Vyshak and Hardik Raj claimed a wicket each for Karnataka.
In Vadodara, Baroda rode a late fightback by Mitesh Patel and Atit Sheth to post 241/6 against formidable Mumbai. Patel scored 86 while Sheth was batting on 60 at the end of the opening day. Mumbai has wrested the early advantage as spinners Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian clinched a couple of wickets each to trigger a collapse in the Baroda top and middle order. With the hosts in deep trouble at 90/5, Patel and Sheth added 130 runs between them to rescue Baroda.