Mumbai: The Bengal cricket team on Thursday created a global first-class record when all nine batters, who took guard, scored half-centuries in a mammoth first innings score of 773/8 against a hapless Jharkhand on the third day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final, at the KSCA ground in Alur, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, on Wednesday. Jharkhand were struggling on 139 for 5 in their first innings at stumps as Bengal as look all set to enter the semi-finals with the opposition trailing by 634 runs.
The match will be remembered for a record that stood test of time since 1893 when the touring Australian team, in a first-class game against the Combined Universities team (Oxford and Cambridge), had eight of their batters scoring fifty or more.
For Bengal, skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (65) started the march towards milestone along with fellow opener Abhishek Raman (61).
This was followed by impressive knocks from Sudip Gharami (186) and senior-most batter Anushtup Majumdar (117). They added 243 runs for the second wicket.
Bengal's junior sports minister Manoj Tiwary (73) also added his name to the list along with Abhishek Porel (68), who has not let Bengal miss Wriddhiman Saha for once.
RCB all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed (78) and Sayan Sekhar Mondal (53) also made half-centuries to complete an Indian cricket but when Akash Deep came and smashed 8 sixes in 18-ball-53, the global first-class record was broken after 129 years.—PTI
