Akash Deep (five for 40) and Shahbaz Ahmed (five for 42) laid bare Haryana’s batting frailties and fastened Bengal’s grasp over their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C encounter at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Stadium here 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 batting) rubbed salt on Haryana’s wounds with a 109-run partnership for the second wicket in the second innings. Gharami’s 62-ball half century made room for Abhimanyu to drop anchor, which steered Bengal to 155 for three at stumps on day two, leading by 248 runs.
But batting did not look this straightforward for the home team with Akash and Shahbaz operating from either end for 22 overs without break.
Akash removed 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, 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 had Yuvraj caught behind, thus initiating a procession that cost Haryana five wickets for just 20 runs.
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.
Shahbaz was second to bag a fifer, but got the important wicket of Himanshu, who was chipping away at the deficit in the company of tailenders.
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.
The scores:
Bengal – 1st innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran c Yuvraj b Baloda 26, Sudip Chatterjee lbw b Amit 86, Sudip Gharami c Yuvraj b Baloda 1, Anustup Majumdar c Yuvraj b Kamboj 19, Shahbaz Ahmed lbw b Amit 15, Sumanta Gupta lbw b Badola 9, Shakir Habib Gandhi lbw b Amit 3, Rahul Prasad lbw b Aman 14, Akash Deep c Dheeru b Amit 0, Vikas Singh (not out) 1, Mukesh Kumar c & b Aman 0; Extras (b-6, lb-12, nb-1): 19; Total (in 72.3 overs): 193.
Fall of wickets: 1-61, 2-65, 3-98, 4-137, 5-158, 6-172, 7-189, 8-189, 9-193.
Haryana bowling: Kamboj 22-11-27-1, Aman 12.3-2-39-2, Amit 23-3-64-4, Baloda 11-0-38-3, Shandilya 4-0-7-0.
Haryana – 1st innings: Yuvraj Singh c Shakir Habib b Shahbaz 29, Ankit Kumar b Akash 0, Ashish Siwach c Shakir Habib b Akash 4, Himanshu Rana lbw b Shahbaz 23, Dheeru Singh c Majumdar b Akash 0, Parth Vats b Shahbaz 0, Mayank Shandilya c Shakir Habib b Akash 6, Aman Kumar c Chatterjee b Shahbaz 1, Tanmay Baloda (not out) 12, Anshul Kamboj c Shakir Habib b Akash 7, Amit Rana lbw b Shahbaz 6; Extras (b-8, lb-4): 12; Total (in 31.1 overs): 100.
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-10, 3-43, 4-44, 5-45, 6-54, 7-63, 8-80, 9-91.
Bengal bowling: Mukesh 5-2-6-0, Akash 15-3-40-5, Shahbaz 11.1-1-42-5.
Bengal – 2nd innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran (61 batting), Sudip Chatterjee c Yuvraj b Kamboj 5, Sudip Gharami b Amit 61, Anustup Majumdar c (sub) Rohilla b Amit 1, Rahul Prasad (batting) 9; Extras (b-6, lb-12): 18; Total (for three wkts. in 41 overs): 155
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-122, 3-126.
Haryana bowling: Kamboj 8-1-36-1, Aman 11-1-37-0, Baloda 9-2-27-0, Vats, 5-0-16-0, Amit 8-0-21-2.
Published – January 30, 2026 11:41 pm IST
