Kalyani (Nadia, WB), Feb 15 (PTI) A determined Sudip Gharami was patience personified as he carried from where he had left off in the quarterfinal with his second successive ton taking Bengal to 249 for 5 against Jammu and Kashmir on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal here on Sunday .
The dismissal of a set Shahbaz Ahmed (42 off 90 balls) at the fag end of the day, an in-cutter from left-arm seamer Sunil Kumar, will give J&K an opportunity to press home the advantage at the start of the second day when the new ball will be due after the last delivery of the 80th over is sent down.
Having batted 15-and-a-half hours for his match-winning 299 against Andhra in the quarterfinal, Gharami took fresh guard but seemed to have taken off from the previous game with an unbeaten 136 runs off 227 balls.
Gharami came to the crease in the second over after veteran Sudip Chatterjee (0) was dismissed without troubling the scorers.
Gharami hit 19 fours and a lofted six in his near six hours of astute batsmanship, which also was a testament to his stamina and defensive technique.
He shared 85-run stand for the second wicket with skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (49), who looked good before a delivery from Auqib Nabi moved a shade after pitching to knock back his off-stump.
Anushtup Majumdar (14) managed a low score but he was involved in a 66-run stand that steadied the innings. However, it was the 94-run stand with Shahbaz that began to pose real concern for J&K skipper Paras Dogra, especially with the pitch offering little assistance to the bowlers.
As far as Gharami is concerned, scoring runs on the big stage — quarterfinal and now semifinal — will certainly make the national selectors notice him as and when they select the next India A squad for a red-ball series.
Gharami’s ability to wait for the loose balls and respect a good spell was praiseworthy. His six was a lofted shot over extra cover off left-arm seamer Sunil. Gharami stepped out to play that shot.
For the national selectors, who look for the ‘x’ factor before elevating a player, Gharami’s strokes against Nabi — on both sides of the wicket — were particularly eye-catching, as he handled the veteran pacer with assurance and authority. He also launched into IPL seamer Yudhvir Singh as 11 of his 19 boundaries came off these two bowlers.
When left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq came in to bowl, unlike Anushtup, who was leg-before after being rooted to his crease, Gharami used his feet to good effect, reaching to the pitch of the deliveries and nullifying spin.
One such push towards deep mid-wicket brought up his century — his eighth in 39 games for Bengal.
The 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season has been a breakthrough one for the former Bengal U-23 skipper, whose current tally of runs is 787. He is currently fourth in the list of top run-getters for the season, behind Ayush Doseja (Delhi, 949 runs), Sanat Sangwan (Delhi, 828 runs) and Abhinav Tejrana (Goa, 787 runs).
With the top-three run-getters no longer a part of the season, Gharami would want to take Bengal to a position where he gets to play one more game and end up on the top of the run-getter’s charts. PTI KHS AM KHS AM AM
Category: Breaking News
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