Sanjib Sanyal stars in Bengal's first innings

Playing Gujarat in their Ranji Trophy quarter-final match at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, Bengal, riding on a Sanjib Sanyal century, played slowly if steadily to obtain a slight upper hand at the end of the first day's play.

Winning the toss, skipper Rohan Gavaskar had no hesitation in opting to bat. The Bengal top-order, however, was blown away by Lalit Patel, who scalped three wickets in the first 13 overs and four during the day. Gavaskar himself made 24 off 53 balls, sharing a minor stand with Sourav Ganguly, in the side to play himself into form ahead of forthcoming international engagements.

Ganguly made only 36 off 76 balls before falling to Bhavin Mehta, as did his skipper. The sixth wicket, however, yielded 176 runs off 279 balls, as Subhomoy Das and Sanjib Sanyal played with refreshing verve to notch up quick runs.

Das made 77 off 173 balls, but the real star was Sanyal. Scoring 109 off 152 deliveries, he hit 16 fours in his unbeaten knock, lending impetus to a run rate that was, for the large part of the Bengal innings, in the doldrums.

More wickets, including Das', fell before the close of play, and Bengal found themselves on 277/7 when play ended. Sanyal was still at the crease, and the home side will look to him to add as many runs as possible in their first essay before taking the field to dominate Gujarat with the ball.