Chandigarh, November 28, 2018: Resuming at overnight at 186 for 4, Deepin Chitkara and Salil Arora, the two overnight batsmen, went on to consolidate Punjab’s innings as they put on 95 runs for the fifth wicket partnership to take the total to 269 in 76.2 overs which gave Punjab the first innings lead of 15 runs against Bengal in the Cooch-Behar Trophy here today.
The partnership was broken when Deepin Chitkara played a uppish stroke in the cover region to be caught by A Bhagat of the bowling of Arka Sarkar for a well made 59 off 76 balls inclusive of 9 boundaries and one six. The departure of Deepin Chitkara brought Jaish Jain to the crease and he in company of Salil Arora added 49 runs for the sixth wicket taking the score to 318 for 6 in 92.5 overs. Jaish Jain was caught by H.Gandhi of the bowling of off spinner Karan Lal for 29 off 71 balls aided by 2 boundaries and one six. Sumit Sharma walked in to fill in the breach and in company of Salil Arora put on 52 runs for the eighth wicket before being caught by H.Gandhi off Karan Lal for 29 off 59 balls inclusive of 4 boundaries. Salil Arora who had been keeping one end up and had a long vigil of 300 minutes at the crease was foxed by left arm spinner S.K. Azharuddin who castled him 2 short of his coveted century for 98.
His innings contained 12 well executed boundaries off 198 balls. He was the eighth man out at 399 in 122.2 overs. Amit Shukla unbeaten 21 and Deepanshu Chadha unbeaten 4 were together at the crease when Punjab declared their innings closed at 422 for 8 in 125 overs taking a healthy lead of 168 runs on the first innings.
For Bengal off spinner Karan Lal (4 for 93) was the most successful bowler. He was ably supported by Arka Sarkar 1 for 57, Kaushik Maiti (1 for 93) and Azharuddin (1 for 88).
Trailing by 168 runs on the first innings Bengal opened with Saurabh Paul and the Diganta Neogi and the duo batted out the 23 overs and carried the score to 95 without being separated. Diganta Neogi was the more aggressive of the two hitting an unbeaten (53) off 75 balls inclusive of 6 boundaries and two sixes whereas his partner Saurabh Paul batted sedately for his unbeaten 30 runs off 63 balls inclusive of four boundaries. At close of third day's play Bengal were still trailing by 73 runs on the first innings.