Karnataka hit back after Chatterjee ton

Bengal 312 for 9 (Chatterjee 145, Saha 90, Sharath 3-47, Vinay 3-80) v Karnataka
Scorecard

Sudip Chatterjee's hundred rescued Bengal from what seemed set to be an extension of their previous season, against Karnataka in Bangalore. Bengal were reduced to 41 for 4 mainly by Vinay Kumar's new-ball exploits, before Chatterjee and Wriddhiman Saha pulled them out of the pits with a stand of 173 runs for the fifth wicket. Saha fell ten runs short of a hundred in the last over before tea and Chatterjee was dismissed for 145, his third 50-plus score in four first-class matches, while Vinay ended the day with 3 for 80.

Vinay opted to bowl and removed the Bengal top order all by himself. He didn't swing the ball much in his first two overs, but once he did, he pitched it in the corridor to take the outside edges of openers Abhishek Das and debutant Naved Ahmed. There was more drama in the third dismissal when Vinay threw the ball back in his follow through to hit Shreevats Goswami's bat and the ball deflected onto the stumps. Goswami had grounded his bat in time but when the ball hit the stumps, his bat was in the air and so were Bengal's fortunes. Manoj Tiwary came out at 26 for 3 and struck an authoritative four off the back foot, but he gave his wicket away by pulling a short ball from well outside off, for a top-edge to square leg and Bengal were four down in just over an hour.

That brought together Chatterjee and Saha in the 14th over. Chatterjee was more watchful out of the two and didn't go for any extravagant shots. Saha, though, had a nervy start. He edged the ball a couple of times early on, but his use of soft hands made sure the ball didn't carry to the slips. He switched gears as soon as legspinner Shreyas Gopal came on in the 20th over by greeting him with a six over long-off and a beautiful cover drive the next ball. Saha struck two fours in an over against Vinay too, not long before lunch, and lofted left-arm spinner J Suchith over mid-off early into the second session to earn some confidence.

Bengal were 104 for 4 at lunch and the two batsmen, now at ease, struck the occasional boundary and soon brought up their 100-run stand with the ball old and the sun blazing down on the pitch. Vinay tried several bowlers in quick succession, unleashed his own reverse-swing, placed unorthodox fielders but wickets eluded Karnataka.

Saha targeted the off side more, while Chatterjee found success off his pads as both batsmen attacked the spinners. Just when it looked like the second session would go completely in Bengal's favour, Gopal turned one into Saha and Robin Uthappa, who was keeping instead of CM Gautam, took a sharp catch down leg.

Chatterjee, on 99 at tea, didn't take too long to move into three figures for the second time in this format and found an able partner in Laxmi Shukla to take the score past 250. By now Chatterjee had read the bounce well; he played the ball late, ducked under the bouncers, cut Vinay off the back foot for fours and was headed towards a big score. That his first first-class hundred was a score of 192 speaks of his patience and grit. Shukla was striking boundaries at will, including a six down the ground, and along with Chatterjee brought up the fifty stand in ten overs, but Karnataka, like they usually do once they make inroads, continued to pick wickets.

Shukla chased one outside off with a big drive that flew to Manish Pandey at first slip in no time and Pragyan Ojha's resistance of 35 balls, that included several short deliveries, ended as soon as Vinay took the second new ball. The big wicket came when Chatterjee threw his bat like Shukla and was also caught at first slip, off HS Sharath. At 295 for 8, Bengal were helped past 300 when No. 9 Veer Pratap Singh struck three firm drives for four before lobbing one off the back foot to mid-off which was Sharath's third wicket and marked the end of the day.