Ranji Trophy 2025/26: Akash Deep, Shahbaz run through Haryana to put Bengal in front after Day 2
Akash Deep (5/40) and Shahbaz Ahmed (5/42) evenly split 10 wickets, laying bare Haryana’s batting frailties, and fastened Bengal’s grasp over this Ranji Trophy Elite Group C encounter at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Stadium in Rohtak on Friday.
The home side folded inside 32 overs for a meagre 100, handing the visitor a 93-run first-innings lead.
Sudip Gharami (61, 74b, 6×4, 2×6) and Abhimanyu Easwaran (61 n.o., 125b, 6×4) rubbed salt into Haryana’s wounds with a 109-run partnership for the second wicket in the second innings. Gharami was brisk from the outset, depositing Aman Kumar over long off and Anshul Kamboj over midwicket for the first maximums of the game. His 62-ball half-century made room for Abhimanyu’s anchor drop, which steered Bengal to 155 for three at Stumps, leading by 248 runs.
But batting did not look this straightforward with Akash and Shahbaz operating from either end for 22 overs without break.
Akash laid the marker by removing Haryana captain Ankit Kumar for a golden duck, making him play for the angle and then seaming it away into the off stump. He used the same ploy in his second over to extract an edge from Ashish Siwach and had him caught behind.
Opener Yuvraj Singh had a measure of Akash, though, shuffling across and whipping him through midwicket for boundaries in successive overs. A way out of the early slump looked on the horizon when Yuvraj combined for 33 runs with Himanshu Rana for the third wicket.
But Shahbaz lured Yuvraj into a drive and turned the ball square to nab him caught behind, thus initiating a procession that cost Haryana five wickets for just 20 runs.
The left-armer’s wickets were not borne out of purchase alone. He mixed up his pace well, castling Parth Vats with a quicker ball before adding Aman to his haul with a slightly loopier trajectory.
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Akash had a hand in the collapse too, nabbing Dheeru Singh and Mayank Shandilya — both enticed by the inbound angle and betrayed by the late seam. Anshul Kamboj’s attempted waft went only as far as second slip and handed Akash his ninth First-Class fifer.
Shahbaz emulated the feat shortly after. Himanshu, who had been chipping away at the deficit in the company of tail-enders, was cramped for room and pinned in front. Amit Rana met the same fate and became the fifth and final victim.
Haryana had more to cheer for in the morning session, for it secured the remaining five wickets inside the first hour. Sudip Chatterjee’s resistance cracked on 86 when his paddle sweep off Amit Rana went awry and stranded him leg before.
Rahul Prasad frustrated by picking boundaries through the cordon before Aman nailed a yorker to dismiss him and arrest Bengal inside 200. But little did Haryana know that Bengal’s bowlers were about to set it free.
Published on Jan 30, 2026
