Pacers put Bengal on top

Kolkata: Pacers once again provided Bengal the early advantage by bowling out Jharkhand for 173 on Day I of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal clash at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday. However, Bengal’s inability to wrap up the tail quickly returned to haunt them as they let their rivals off a bit after having them on the mat at 120 for seven at one stage. Kumar Suraj played a lone hand for the visitors as his unbeaten 89 off 175 balls provided the Jharkhand bowlers something to fight for.The Bengal innings could not be started as bad light stopped play early on the day. The four Bengal paces dominated the proceedings so much that left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed was not called to bowl even a single over in the day. While Akash Deep ended with four for 62, Mukesh Kumar claimed three for 61. Ishan Porel and Akash Ghatak too picked up one wicket each.Jharkhand suffered the first major setback when their star batter Saurabh Tiwary was ruled out of the match after suffering a hamstring injury while warming up for the match in the morning. Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary had little hesitation in putting the opposition in after winning the toss under overcast conditions. Akash Deep claimed first blood dismissing both the openers Kumar Deobrat and Aryaman Sen coming in as the first-change bowler. Akash Ghatak was right on target dislodging skipper Virat Singh’s stumps in his second over of the morning.Bengal went to lunch at a strong position with Jharkhand at 72 for four after Mukesh claimed his first victim by having left-haded Anukul Roy edging one to Tiwary at first slip. Jharkhand lost Kushagra, caught by Abhimanyu Easwaran at second slip off Akash Deep, just after the lunch interval.But a 30-run eighth-wicket stand between Shahbaz Nadeem and Suraj frustrated the Bengal bowlers. Suraj was lucky to survive when Easwaran dropped him at second slip off Mukesh when on 55 and later the umpire turned down a strong appeal against him on 73 for a catch by Manoj at first slip off Akash Deep.Left-handed Suraj played some big shots to collect 20 quick and valuable runs with last-man Ashish Kumar to keep Jharkhand in for a fight.SCOREBOARD Jharkhand (1st innings): K Deobrat b A Deep 8, A Sen c A Porel b A Deep 4, K Suraj not out 89, V Singh b A Ghatak 6, A Roy c M Tiwary b M Kumar 4, K Kushagra c A Easwaran b A Deep 4, P Kumar c M Tiwary b M Kumar 21, S Chakraborty b I Porel 6, S Nadeem lbw A Deep 10, R Shukla c A Porel b M Kumar 0, A Kumar run out 12Extras (lb 3, nb 3, w 3): 9Total (All out, 66.2 ovs): 173Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-31, 3-56, 4-61, 5-77, 6-109, 7-120, 8-150, 9-153Bowling: M Kumar 21.2-3-61-3, I Porel 16-5-26-1, A Deep 21-5-62-4, M Tiwary 1-0-6-0, A Ghatak 7-2-15-1.