Ranji Trophy 2025-26: Shahbaz’s seven wickets throw Railways off the rails, Bengal steams ahead
Railways ran out of steam early on Tuesday, as Bengal steamrolled its way to the top of the Elite Group C table of the Ranji Trophy with a victory by an innings and 120 runs.
The home team’s ordeal at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium here would have ended sooner had Shahbaz Ahmed not grassed an attempt off the very first delivery of the day to grant a lifeline to Bhargav Merai. The said moment, however, turned out to be the only blemish on what would soon become the left-arm spinner’s personal highlight reel.
Shahbaz redeemed himself by picking up all the remaining wickets before lunch to finish with a seven-wicket haul and hand Bengal all of the seven points on offer.
Merai ended up being the first to depart anyway, six overs later, as Shahbaz’s delivery straightened to strike the pads of the 33-year-old in front of the sticks.
It was another blink-and-you-miss innings from Karn Sharma, who holed out to Sumit Mohanta in the deep.
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When an alert Aditya Purohit took care of Upendra Yadav at silly point, Railways’ fortunes were all but sealed—the rest was mere paperwork.
Akash Pandey, Adarsh Singh, and Kunal Yadav merely delayed the inevitable. Akash’s 20-ball stay was cut short when his edge launched the ball high into the short midwicket skies. The ever-energetic Shakir ran at full pelt before calling for and eventually claiming it with a flourish.
Kunal threw the proverbial kitchen sink at a loopy delivery but ended up mistiming the shot to Vishal Bhati, who had all the time to settle underneath the projectile at long-off.
And thus, Railways packed its bags, Bengal packed a bonus point, and Shahbaz packed up a morning’s work that will be talked about for weeks to come.
The scores:
Bengal — 1st innings: 474.
Railways — 1st innings: 222.
Railways — 2nd innings: Zubair Ali Khan b Shahbaz 0, Vivek Singh c Anustup b Rahul 29, Pratham Singh c Shakir b Kaif 9, Mohammad Saif c Mohanta b Rahul 3, Bhargav Merai lbw Shahbaz 26, Suraj Ahuja lbw Shahbaz 12, Upendra Yadav c Purohit b Shahbaz 21, Karn Sharma c Mohanta b Shahbaz 6, Akash Pandey c Shakir b Shahbaz 18, Adarsh Singh (not out) 3, Kunal Yadav c Bhati b Shahbaz 0; Extras: (nb-1, b-2, lb-2): 5; Total (in 55.5 overs): 132.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-35, 3-42, 4-43, 5-66, 6-104, 7-110, 8-111, 9-132.
Bengal bowling: Jaiswal 8-4-13-0, Shahbaz 22.5-6-56-7, Rahul 15-1-41-2, Kaif 6-2-10-1, Bhati 4-2-8-0.
Published on Nov 11, 2025
