Bengal 328 and 69 for 1 (Abhimanyu 28*, Gharami 26*, Shukla 1-24) beat Jharkhand 173 and 221 (Sen 64, Chakraborty 41*, Roy 40, Ghatak 3-21, Shahbaz 2-45, Akash Deep 2-46) by nine wickets
Bengal got past Jharkhand by nine wickets at Eden Gardens to secure their spot in the semi-finals of the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy.
When they batted first, Bengal lost opener Kazi Saifi early, but a 136-run partnership for the second wicket between Abhimanyu (77) and Gharami (68) put Bengal in a commanding position. Shahbaz (81) ensured they finished with a strong first-innings lead of 155.
Akash Deep and Ghatak then took two wickets each as Jharkhand were left tottering at 21 for 4. Anukul Roy and Aryaman Sen added 71 runs for the fifth wicket to revive Jharkhand, but when Sen fell for 64 with Jharkhand still behind Bengal, it looked like game over.
Supriyo Chakraborty’s 41, however, kept Jharkhand alive for a little longer, but Mukesh and Ghatak wrapped the innings up, with Bengal needing 67 to win. Saifi fell early once again, but Abhimanyu and Gharami raced to the target to put Bengal into the semi-finals, where they will meet the winners of the Madhya Pradesh vs Andhra game.
Karnataka 606 (Shreyas 161*, Agarwal 83, Samarth 82, Negi 4-109, Mishra 3-107) beat Uttarakhand 116 and 209 (Swapnil 51, Shreyas 3-26, Vyshak 3-55) by an innings and 281 runs
Shreyas was, however, the star with the bat, hitting his fifth first-class century to take Karnataka to 606, leaving Uttarakhand with a huge ask.
Madhya Pradesh 228 and 245 for 5 (Dubey 58, Patidar 55, Shubham 40, Raj 2-50, Mohan 2-91) beat Andhra 379 and 93 (Avesh 4-24, Gaurav 3-10) by five wickets
Madhya Pradesh did lose five wickets in the chase, but were largely untroubled as they completed a come-from-behind victory after conceding a 151-run first-innings lead.
In reply to Andhra’s 379, Madhya Pradesh were bowled out for 228, with Shubham Sharma’s 51 the only score of note. Left-arm medium pacer Prithvi Raj was the pick of the bowlers, with figures of 5 for 26.
But there was a big collapse after that as Andhra were skittled for 93 in their second essay, with Avesh taking four wickets. The valiant Vihari came out to bat at No. 11 again and even made 15 off 16 with the help of three boundaries, but could not stretch his team’s lead.
Dubey (58) then put on 58 runs with opening partner Himanshu Mantri (31) and 62 runs with Shubham, who made 40 to go with his first-innings fifty. Patidar kept Madhya Pradesh ticking in the chase with a quickly compiled 55. Andhra hoped for a comeback when they dismissed Patidar and opposition captain Aditya Shrivastava in quick succession, but Saransh Jain (28) and Harsh Gawli (18) completed the chase without any further hiccups.
