Ranji Trophy 2024: Debutant Sourav and experienced Anustup shine for Bengal on Day 1 against Andhra Pradesh

Last season's finalist Bengal started their Ranji Trophy 2024 campaign on a great note as they finished Day 1 of their opening game against Andra Pradesh at 289/4 at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA VDCA Cricket Stadium in Vizag.

Debutant opener Sourav Paul scored a valuable 96 for them while experienced Anustup Majumdar scored his 14th first-class ton for the visitors against Hanuma Vihari's team.

🚨 Anustup Majumdar scores his 14th First-Class ton 👏

The experienced middle-order batter took on the Andhra Pradesh bowlers to score a quick ton in the first game of #RanjiTrophy2024

At 39, this man just keeps performing for Bengal 💗

Follow @sportz_point for all the updates… pic.twitter.com/H4UgDeV88S

— Sportz Point (@sportz_point) January 5, 2024

Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary, won the toss and elected to bat first before handing out debut caps to openers Sourav Paul, Shreyansh Ghosh and pace bowler Mohammad Kaif. Both Shreyansh and Sourav made their way into the Ranji Trophy team after scoring a lot of runs in the club cricket for Kalighat and East Bengal clubs respectively. Meanwhile, Kaif was there in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and did decent there to earn the cap.

Bengal team management was forced to call up new faces since Abhimanyu Easwaran and Mukesh Kumar are in the Indian squad as of now.

Although Shreyansh and Sourav were looking good for the first half and hour of the day, Shreyansh had to depart after adding 11 on the board. Nithish Kumar Reddy was the bowler to draw first blood for Andhra Pradesh.

After Ghosh's departure, came in Sudip Gharami at the number three, who was one of the best batters for Bengal in last season. Both Sudip and Sourav took Bengal over fifty but Sudip (18) failed to convert his start to a big one after battling out for nearly an hour.

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Lalith Mohan broke the 38-run partnership and Bengal looked in a bit of bother at 62/2 with Sourav Paul doing all the work since the morning.

However, things became easier for Bengal as soon as Anustup Majumdar walked in to bat at number four. Majumdar, who was Bengal's highest run-getter in last season, continued from where he left off and started scoring boundaries against the Andhra bowlers.

With Anustup batting nearly at run-a-ball pace, Sourav remained calm and composed to keep the partnership going. Post scoring his maiden fifty, Sourav too showed his skill to score some boundaries while Majumdar kept on scoring runs easily.

Also Read: Bengal announces 18-men squad for the first two games of Ranji Trophy 2024; Manoj Tiwary will lead the side

Once both the batters were giving each other a competition on completing their ton first. It was Anustup who completed the mileston first as he scored his 14th first-class ton. However, Sourav could not get to the magic figure as he perished against Shoaib Md Khan on 96 and finally the 189-run partnership was broken.

Sourav Paul: Left Hander, Namesake of a legend from Bengal and loves scoring runs!

He caught everyone's eyes after scoring a double ton in Coochbehar Trophy in 2018

Six years later, in #RanjiTrophy2024 he missed a ton on debut just by 4 runs!

A well-made 96 from 232 balls 👏

— Koushik Biswas (@kbofficial25) January 5, 2024

Anustup was the last batter to get out for Bengal on Day 1 as Lalith Mohan sent him back to the dressing room after a brilliant 139-ball 125.

Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary and debutant Mohammad Kaif, who was sent in as a night-watchman are at the crease at the moment.