Karnataka sitting pretty

Forced to follow-on, Bengal reach 46/1 in second innings on Day 3

Courtesy a strong all-round show, defending champions Karnataka found themselves in the driver’s seat after enforcing the follow-on against Bengal on the third day of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match, here on Tuesday.

In reply to Karnataka’s 408 in the first innings of the four-day encounter at the Eden Gardens, Bengal batsmen showed little application to be bowled out for 251, just eight runs shy of avoiding the follow-on.

Karnataka, with a first innings lead of 157, had no hesitation in enforcing the follow on.
At stumps, the Laxmi Ratan Shukla-led Bengal were 46 for one, still trailing by 111 runs.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 62 for one, the Bengal top and middle-order fought hard only to give away their starts as Karnataka captain R Vinay Kumar and Sreenath Arvind picked three wickets each.

Shreevats Goswami (68 from 141 balls, 12x4) was Bengal’s top-scorer but the diminutive wicketkeeper-batsman could not convert it into a big score and was trapped leg before by leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal in his very second over.

The overnight batsmen Rohan Banerjee (46) and Sudip Chatterjee (57) also did their bit by adding 62 runs for the second wicket. Banerjee was caught behind by C M Gautam off Arvind while Chatterjee was trapped in front by Vinay.

Bengal’s most reliable batsman, Manoj Tiwary was out second ball duck soon after the left-handed Banerjee missed his half-century by four runs.

Fresh from his 192 in Baroda, Chatterjee found a fine ally in Shreevats as they looked to rebuild Bengal’s innings but it was the Karnataka skipper again, who broke the 71-run partnership.

Unlike Karnataka, who reached 408 from being 69/5, Bengal batsmen showed no appetite to occupy the crease as it was a one-way traffic for the visitors once the sixth wicket fell 214.

Vinay finished with three for 56 while Arvind had a haul of 3 for 31. Paceman Abhimanyu Mithun provided support, picking up two wickets for 83.

Agencies
score board
KARNATAKA (I Innings): 408
BENGAL (I Innings): Rohan Banerjee c Gautam b Arvind 46, Arindam Das c Pandey b Vinay Kumar 21, Sudip Chatterjee lbw Vinay Kumar 57, Manoj Tiwary lbw Vinay Kumar 0, Shreevats Goswami lbw Gopal 68, Laxmi Ratan Shukla lbw Binny 6, Shubajit Banerjee c Gautam b Mithun 21, Saurashis Lahiri lbw Ar­vind 1, Veer Pratap Singh c Kapoor b Arvind 1, Ashok Dinda c Gautam b Mithun 0, Shib Shanakt Paul (not out) 4, Extras (B-11, LB-9, NB-6) 26, Total (all out; 85.1 overs) 251.
Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-100, 3-101, 4-172, 5-187, 6-214, 7-221, 8-233, 9-234.
Bowling: Vinay Kumar 25-7-56-3, Abhimanyu Mithun 24-6-83-2, Stuart Binny 15-0-54-1, Sreenath Arvind 18-7-31-3, Manish Pandey 1-0-6-0, Karun Nair 1-1-0-0, Shreyas Gopal 1.1-0-1-1.
BENGAL (II Innings, following-on): Rohan Banerjee lbw Arvind 13, Arindam Das (batting) 11, Sudip Chatterjee (batting) 20, Extras (NB-2) 2, Total (for 1 wkt; 20 overs)     46.
Fall of wickets: 1-17.
Bowling: Vinay Kumar 4-1-11-0, Sreenath Arvind 6-4-10-1, Shreyas Gopal 2-0-3-0, Abhimanyu Mithun 3-0-9-0, Stuart Binny 3-2-4-0, Manish Pandey 1-0-7-0, Karun Nair 1-0-2 0.