Ranji Trophy | Sudip’s unbeaten ton, the silver-lining in Karnataka-Bengal stalemate

Bengal secures draw against Karnataka in Ranji Trophy match, Sudip Kumar scores century, leaving Karnataka with impossible target.

Bengal stepped off the gas to collect three points with a draw against Karnataka in their Elite-C Ranji Trophy encounter at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.

Bengal took no chances on the final day, batting beyond lunch to leave Karnataka with an impossible target of 364. Karnataka lost openers Mayank Agarwal and Kishan Bedare inside the first six overs, before R. Smaran (35 not out), Shreyas Gopal (32) and Manish Pandey (30 not out) took the home team to safe waters.

Karnataka, with nine points from four matches, slipped out of the top two in the Elite-C points table. Bengal is just below Karnataka with eight points from four outings.

Resuming on 127 for three, Bengal did not see merit in forcing a win. Sudip Kumar (101 n.o., 193b, 12x4, 2x6) recorded his fifth First Class century.

Pacer Vidyadhar Patil kept a probing line to prise out Shahbaz Ahmed and Avilin Ghosh, but a confident knock from Wriddhiman Saha (63 n.o., 70b, 7x4, 1x6) left no room for a Karnataka comeback.

Bengal declared on 283 for five soon after Sudip reached his hundred. With less than two sessions of play remaining, a draw was a foregone conclusion.

Karnataka captain Mayank Agarwal conceded that the team had been affected by a “few soft dismissals”, and that the batters were keen to take corrective action.