Ranji Trophy 2022 | Bengal’s top-nine batters score half centuries

Bengal became the first team in first-class cricket to have nine players score 50 or more in the same innings in the Ranji Trophy. The team established the feat in the quarter-finals against Jharkhand at the Just Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

After being put to bat by Jharkhand on Day 1, Bengal openers produced an 88 runs stand for the first wicket. Abhimanyu Easwaran played a flick towards the mid-wicket boundary to score his side's first 50 of the inning.

The batter was trapped leg before and departed at 65. Majumdar went back to the dugout at the score of  117 on day two as he edged the ball to the fielder at slip off Nadeem's delivery.

Abhishek Raman, who left the proceedings after pulling his hamstring on day 1, came back to bat at the score of 41 and added 20 runs to his total before walking back to the dugout at the score of 61.

Gharami, who was playing his fifth first-class game, scored his maiden first-class century as he went on to post a massive score of 186 before getting strangled down the leg.

The innings saw Manoj Tiwary and young Abishek Porel add another 109 runs partnership for the sixth wicket. 

However, Porel lost his wicket at 68, edging down the leg towards the end of day two and was already the fifth Bengal batter to score a half-century in the innings. 

Tiwary was dismissed for 73 early in the Day 3 morning session as he drove straight into the hands of the fielder at cover off Sushant Mishra. 

Later, Shahbaz Ahmed looked for quick runs and reached his seventh first-class 50 in 86 balls, becoming the seventh consecutive Bengal batter to score 50-plus. It was the 27th occasion where a first-class team scored seven half-centuries in an inning. However, Shahbaz was caught behind the stumps of Nadeem's delivery on a score of 78. 

When Bengal's number eight Sayan Mondal reached his half-century after lunch on day 3, it was the very first instance when the top-eight batters of a team had scored at least fifty runs in a first-class inning. 

Bengal made it even better when fast bowler Akash Deep, who was the ninth batter to bat in the innings, scored a half-century and became the ninth consecutive Bengal batter to reach the milestone in the innings. 

The feat has never been touched in the history of first-class cricket. According to the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians record, before this game, there have been three occasions when seven 50-plus scores were recorded in an innings of a Ranji Trophy match. 

Bengal became the first team to register nine 50-plus scores in an innings from all the nine batters who batted in the innings. 

After Akash Deep reached his fifty at a mammoth score of 773 for 7, Bengal declared after batting more than 218 overs.