Ranji Trophy 2024-25: Karnataka vs Bengal, Round 4, Day 2 Review

After bad light had brought a premature end to Day 1 of the Round 4 Ranji Trophy 2024-25 game between Karnataka and Bengal, the Karnataka side who were bowling first would have ideally wanted to turn up fresh for Day 2 and pick up a few early wickets to keep the Bengal batters in check. On the other hand, with Bengal ending Day 1 on 249/5 after Anustup Majumdar's resilient back-to-the-wall century with Sudip Chatterjee and Shahbaz Ahmed proving to be the perfect foil for the Bengal skipper, it was to be seen how both of them would fare when the second new ball would enter the fray after the first over of the second day.

Karnataka pacers bowled beautifully, and they tasted early success in the very second over of the morning when they took the wicket of settled batter Shahbaz Ahmed 59(110). The first-morning session belonged to Karnataka as their pacers took quick wickets and bundled out Bengal for just 301 in 101.5 overs.

Bengal was only able to add 52 runs for their overnight score. Vasuki Koushik 5/38 (25) who bowled beautifully yesterday continued his rhythm and registered his third five-fer in First Class cricket. Shreyas Gopal 3/87 (25.5) and Abhilash Shetty 2/62 (20) gave excellent support to Koushik and took other wickets. Kishan Bedare came as a concussion substitute for Nikin Jose who was hit while fielding on Day 1. Kishan Bedare opened with Mayank Agarwal. Karnataka were 6/0(7) after the end of Session 1.

Also Read: Ranji Trophy 2024-25: Karnataka vs Bengal, Round 4, Day 1 Review

In the second session, Bengal made an excellent comeback in the game as their pacers bowled beautifully. Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal 17(78) played very cautiously but when he was looking good he got an excellent delivery from Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal.

Bengal bowled fantastically as they took four wickets in the second session. Rishav Vivek 2/44(15) bowled beautifully and got two wickets in the session. He got excellent support from Ishan Porel 1/38(15) and Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 2/53(17) who took a wicket apiece in the second session. Karnataka were 91/4(31) after the end of Session 2.

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In the third and final session, Karnataka recovered a bit because of Abhinav Manohar. Abhinav Manohar played a fabulous attacking innings - 50*(73) - as usual which helped Karnataka to make a comeback in the game. Shreyas Gopal 23*(55) who played well gave excellent support to Abhinav Manohar. These two stitched a fantastic unbeaten partnership of 58 runs from 107 deliveries. These two made sure that there were no more collapses as Karnataka finished for 155/5 in 51 overs at the end of Day 2. Both Abhinav Manohar and Shreyas Gopal are the batters at the crease who will resume their batting on Day 3.

Bengal are in a comfortable position despite Karnataka fighting hard especially through the unbeaten partnership between Abhinav Manohar and Shreyas Gopal towards the end and being not far behind in the game. Even though Bengal played well as a team on Day 2, the day belonged to the Karnataka pacer Vasuki Koushik who took a five-fer and dashing batter Abhinav Manohar who scored his unbeaten fifty. Now all eyes are on these two batters for Day 3.