Bengal register maiden outright victory in Ranji Trophy 2015-16

Bengal register maiden outright victory in Ranji Trophy 2015-16: In the first five rounds of the tournament, drawing level in all the games, Bengal registered their maiden outright win against Vidarbha in the game played at the Jadavpur University Campus Second Ground, Kolkata, between 7^th and 10^th November 2015.

Winning the toss, Vidarbha, under the leadership of Subramaniam Badrinath, put the hosts in to bat.

Aided by half centuries by the openers, Abhimanyu Easwaran (58, 208m, 135b, 10*4) and Sayan Mondal (56, 223m, 146b, 8*4) and a wonderful century by the young Sudip Chatterjee (116, 307m, 200b, 14*4, 1*6), Bengal ended up scoring 334 runs in their first innings.

This was Sudip’s fourth century in his 38^th innings.

Akshay Wakhare (31-6-85-4) and Shrikant Wagh (24-6-53-3) were the chief wreckers for Vidarbha

In reply Vidharbha put up 202 runs in their first innings with significant contributions from the opener, Faiz Fazal (63, 202m, 120b, 6*4) and an unbeaten half-century by Shrikant Wagh (60*, 129m, 100b, 10*4, 1*6).

India discard, left-arm spinner, Pragyan Ojha, playing his first season for Bengal, having taken a transfer from Hyderabad, literally ran through the Vidarbha batting line up, picking 7 seven wickets, giving away 58 runs in his spell of 24.5 overs.

It is in this game that another India discard, Wasim Jaffer, who had hitherto been playing for Mumbai but took a transfer to Vidarbha, became the first batsman in the 82-year history of Ranji Trophy to cross the 10,000-run mark. He was short of the landmark by 8 runs at the beginning of this game. He scored 9 runs in the first knock.

Taking a lead of 132 runs, Bengal went on to score another 164 runs in the second innings, backed by a well made 63 runs (187m 127b, 8*4) by their skipper, Manoj Tiwari.

Having to chase a target of 297 runs for a victory, Vidarbha succumbed to 191 runs, the only significant contribution coming from Ganesh Satish (96, 325m, 201b, 11*4, 1*6). Satish registered his 20^th half-century in his 95^th innings, missing his 9th century very narrowly.

He was the only batsman who withstood the onslaught of the Bengal bowlers, primarily Veer Pratap Singh (12.1-3-23-3) and Pragyan Ojha (34-9-60-4), who opened the bowling attack alongwith Ashok Dinda.

Ojha’s wonderful bowling display that helped him pick up 11 wickets in the match was instrumental in Bengal registering their season’s maiden victory by 105 runs.

Having had a quiet season thus far, Ojha produced his career-best bowling performance of 11/118 in Ranji Trophy.

This was Ojha’s third ‘ten-wicket’ haul in First Class cricket and the first one in Ranji Trophy. The other two were in a Test match and a county game for Surrey.

Speaking to reporters, post the match, Ojha said, “We never gave up hope. It was about being patient and bowling consistently. Somebody had to do something extra ordinary and I’m glad that my contribution helped the team.”

Pragyan Ojha, who ended the match with the analysis of 58.5-14-118-11, was adjudged the Player of the Match.