Bengal have nose ahead
- Bengal would be pleased B with their show so far in the ongoing Ranji Trophy semifinals against Madhya Pradesh at Holkar Stadium in Indore. After the second days on Thursday, they are in a position to fancy their chances of making the final, although they would be aware of the fact that the battle is far from over.
- Starting the day at 307 for four, following Wednesday's brilliant third-wicket partnership between Sudip Gharami and Anustup Majumdar, the visitors managed to add a little over 100 runs, with their first innings folding up for 438.
- The highlights on Thurs- day were out wicketkeeper Abhishek Porel's 51 and skipper Manoj Tiwary's 42. Even though the lower order could not contribute much, they would not be too unhappy, having crossed the 400-run mark.
- To top it up, Bengal pacers sent back both the Madhya Pradesh openers Yash Dubey and Himanshu Mantri With the hosts going to stumps at 56 for two, Bengal would be looking for some early wickets on Friday morning. For Madhya Pradesh, a lot will depend on overnight unbeaten batters Saransh Jain and Anubhav Agarwal.
- Bengal would have hoped for a total close to 500, when Tiwary and Shahbaz Ahmed started the proceedings on Thursday morning. However, Ahmed lost his wicket early.
- Tiwary and Abhishek Porel then got together for a 78-run partnership for the sixth wicket. However, after Tiwary's departure, the rest of Bengal batters could not really hold on for a big score.
- Chasing over 400, Madhya Pradesh would have expected a good start from their openers. However, with Yash Dubey edging an Akash Deep delivery to Abhishek Porel behind the stumps with the team score at 27, such hopes quickly evaporated. Mantri followed soon after as the defending champions lost both openers before getting to 50.
- Even though Bengal have their nose ahead, they must lo- ok at quickly destroying all routes for a likely fightback from the hosts. Madhya Pradesh can take heart from the fact that their rivals too were at a similar state before Majumdar and Gharami's stupendous fightback.