Bengal set for innings victory

Bengal were on the verge of a crushing victory over Tripura at stumps on the third day of their East Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta on Tuesday. After gaining a first innings lead of 288 runs, Bengal took seven Tripura wickets for only 104 runs in the second innings by stumps.

The highlight of this otherwise lop sided contest was the batting of skipper Debang Gandhi. The former Indian opener, who resumed at 128, went on to make 206 not out before he declared the innings at 458 for four off 134 overs. Resuming at 333 for three in reply to Tripura's first innings total of 170, Bengal continued to relentlessly pile up the runs. Gandhi and Saba Karim took their fourth wicket partnership to 88 runs off 30 overs before the wicketkeeper was out for 22. Vetaran Srikant Kalyani and Gandhi then slapped on another 96 runs off 25 overs for the unbroken fifth wicket before the closure. While Kalyani remained unbeaten with 23, Gandhi went merrily along to his double century. At the declaration he had batted 389 minutes, faced 285 balls and hit 27 fours and three sixes.

Tripura lost wickets at regular intervals in their second innings and only an unbeaten 30 by GH Banik helped them to extend the match to a fourth day.