Chatterjee, Easwaran keep Bengal on course for semi-finals

Writtick Chatterjee's unbeaten double-century and Abhimanyu Easwaran's second century of the match meant Bengal amassed 483 for 4 by stumps and have all but sealed the game against defending champions Gujarat. By virtue of a strong first-innings advantage, Bengal's overall lead is now 613. They don't necessarily have to declare in the bid for an outright win, as they would advance to semi-finals by virtue of their lead in the first innings anyway.

Resuming on 177 for 1, Bengal's overnight batsmen Chatterjee and Easwaran went about collecting personal milestones one after the other. Easwaran brought up his seventh first-class hundred even as Chatterjee completed his second a little while after, off 183 balls. Gujarat, though, broke through in the eleventh over of the morning when seamer Ishwar Chaudhary accepted a return chance offered by Easwaran.

That, however, didn't put an end to Gujarat's misery as Chatterjee continued pinching runs, only this time in the company of captain Manoj Tiwary (59). Together they added 166 runs for the third wicket following which Chaudhary struck again to send back Tiwary. Chatterjee then added 88 runs for the fourth wicket with Shreevats Goswami (32) before the latter was bowled by Samit Gohel with less than five overs remaining in the day. Chatterjee, playing only his sixth first-class game, had collected his maiden double-hundred about an hour after tea and remained unbeaten on 213 off 357 deliveries, including 23 fours and a six.