Ranji Trophy: Mountain to climb for Jammu & Kashmir

The game was hanging in the balance when Bengal resumed on overnight 312 for seven. The ball was 90 overs old and, inexplicably, Parvez Rasool decided to continue with it. It was a flat pitch alright, but there was enough nip in the morning air to assist swing. Fast bowlers were fresh but J&K started with spin from both ends. Wriddhiman Saha and tail-ender Ashok Dinda pounced on the opportunity, collecting 21 runs from the first five overs.

Delayed new ball

The second new ball was taken after 95 overs and it yielded instant results. Ram Dayal removed Dinda with Ian Dev Singh taking a simple catch at second slip. At 333 for eight, however, Bengal were on verge of safety. Saha’s continued where he had left off on Day 1 and when he was the last man out — for 166 —he had lifted the hosts to 387 in their first innings.

The total was a challenging one but in Ian Dev, J&K had a batsman who could take on the Bengal bowlers. The 25-year-old has been in excellent form of late with a 103 not out against Uttar Pradesh followed by 94 against Karnataka in the last game. He picked up from where he had left off in Hubli.

Bengal’s debutant left-arm spinner Amit Banerjee was bowling well. He had Obaid Haroon stumped down the leg side – Saha’s glovework was mesmeric – and then dismissed Rasool with a yorker-length delivery that crashed into off and middle. Ian Dev came and batted untroubled.

The middle-order batsman has the gift of timing. A straight drive off Dinda was beautiful as also a few shots played square of the wicket. He raced to his half-century which was applauded by 50-odd J&K fans — a group of young men from the valley who’ve come here on office training. They dropped in at Eden and were in full voice. As Ian Dev neared closed in on his season’s second hundred, they raised the decibel level. Perhaps the batsman got a little too carried away as he charged down the wicket to off-spinner Saurasish Lahiri and offered a simple catch to Manoj Tiwary at long on. Ian Dev departed for 72. The mindless slog left the door ajar for Bengal. It was yet another instance of J&K surrendering the initiative.

Subham Pundir (34 not out) and Bandeep Singh (27 not out), however, applied themselves well to forge an unfinished 55-run partnership for the sixth wicket. J&K finished the day on 183 for five, still 55 runs adrift of saving the follow-on.

Brief scores: Bengal 387 all out in 108.5 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 166; Ram Dayal 4/115, Parvez Rasool 3/70) vs J&K 183/5 in 69 overs (Ian Dev Singh 72; Amit Banerjee 2/51)