Ranji Trophy 2025-26: Gharami, Majumdar extend Bengal’s lead over Gujarat on Day 3
Sudip Gharami’s second successive half-century and Anustup Majumdar’s fighting knock strengthened Bengal’s position against Gujarat on the penultimate day of the Ranji Trophy Group-C match at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.
After wrapping up Gujarat for 167, the host scored 170 for seven in its second essay for an overall lead of 282 runs.
Gujarat, starting from 107 for seven, relied on its skipper Manan Hingrajia’s defiant unbeaten half-century (80 not out, 252b, 9×4) to avoid follow-on and deny Bengal a bigger lead.
Hitting his boundaries between third-man and long-off, left-handed Hingrajia led the tail-enders to gather 60 valuable runs for Gujarat as Bengal could not apply enough pressure.
Shahbaz Ahmed claimed two more to accomplish a six-wicket haul, while Mohammed Shami got his third.
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In the absence of Sudip Chatterjee, who injured his left knee while fielding on Sunday to be replaced by Kazi Saifi, make-shift opener Gharami and captain Abhimanyu Easwaran added 55 runs.
Left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai, who took four wickets in the first innings, flighted the ball with precision and extracted some turn to scalp four more in a marathon 18-over spell.
He delivered two quick blows as Abhimanyu swept it to mid-wicket and Saifi played forward to edge it to the wicketkeeper. Later, he dismissed Sumanta Gupta and Shahbaz.
Left-arm pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla, who got a hint of reverse swing to trouble the Bengal batters and accounted for Gharami and Abishek Porel, combined well with Siddharth to put pressure on the home batters.
On a slow pitch offering low bounce, Gharami (54, 93b, 9×4) got most of his fours through cuts and flicks. He added another 38 with Majumdar before being adjudged lbw.
Majumdar (44 batting, 81b, 7×4), who was bowled off a Siddharth no-ball on 24, rode on his luck to hold one end as Bengal looked to inflate its lead.
Published on Oct 27, 2025
