Classy knock: Gharami banked on his unwavering focus and immense reserve of patience.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
KALYANI
Sudip Gharami’s gritty and responsible maiden double century helped Bengal secure a 123-run first innings lead on the third day of its Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Andhra at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground here on Sunday.
Starting the day at 199 for five, Bengal reached 418 for six at stumps with Gharami (216 batting, 451b, 27×4) and wicketkeeper-batter Shakir Habib Gandhi (45 batting, 113b, 3×4, 1×6) sharing an unbeaten 100-run partnership.
The day belonged to Bengal.
Gharami and Sumanta Gupta concentrated hard to build on their overnight unbeaten 46-run stand and gathered 89 more without losing any ground in the opening session.
Pace and spin combo
In the first hour, Andhra mostly employed the pace-spin combination of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Saurabh Kumar from round the wicket. While Nitish attacked the batters with bouncers to a loaded onside field and waited for them to make mistakes, Saurabh looked to contain them.
As the tactic did not succeed, Andhra took the second new ball in the 88th over.
With the pitch easing out, Gharami reached his 150 and Sumanta, his half-century, to lift the spirits in the Bengal camp. The two rotated the strike besides unleashing big hits. Gharami pulled, drove and swept assuredly, while Sumanta cut and pulled nicely to get boundaries.
Bengal overtook Andhra in the third over after lunch before losing Sumanta (81, 167b, 9×4, 1×6), caught at silly point off Saurabh, to witness the end of a substantial 165-run stand.
The diminutive Gharami, who survived a DRS referral seeking a leg before decision, banked on his unwavering focus and immense reserve of patience to consistently offer a straight bat. He used his feet well against the spinners, who shared the majority of Andhra’s workload on a conducive track.
Gharami formed another important association with Gandhi, who showed good temperament and skills, to consolidate Bengal’s lead.
The scores: Andhra — 1st innings: 295.
Bengal — 1st innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran c Rasheed b Nitish 1, Sudip Chatterjee b Sasikanth 13, Sudip Gharami (batting) 216, Anustup Majumdar c (sub) Revanth b Sasikanth 9, Suraj Jaiswal b Vijay 20, Shahbaz Ahmed b Saurabh 5, Sumanta Gupta c Gnaneshwar b Saurabh 81, Shakir Habib Gandhi (batting) 45; Extras (b-11, lb-8, nb-5, w-4): 28; Total (for six wkts. in 146 overs): 418.
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-27, 3-43, 4-123, 5-153, 6-318.
Andhra bowling: Nitish 18-1-57-1, Saiteja 17-3-47-0, Sasikanth 19-3-59-2, Raju 23-3-67-0, Saurabh 47-13-81-2, Vijay 18-2-70-1, Rasheed 4-0-18-0.
Published – February 08, 2026 06:21 pm IST
