The second day of the Super League final between Mohun Bagan and Bhowanipore proved to be an eventful one as Mohammed Shami stole the spotlight with the pink ball, marking his return to first-class cricket with a five-wicket haul to help his side gain a commanding lead in the four-day match.
As many as seven wickets fell during the first half of the first session on Sunday which saw a huge turnout as the crowd flocked in great numbers to the Eden Gardens to see history being created. Reeling at 16/4 at one stage and later 45/7, Bhowanipore managed to avoid the follow-on but Mohun Bagan’s measured approach to the second innings saw them finish Day two with a 296-run lead over the opposition and the match firmly in their grip.
Resuming at the overnight score of 276/8, Bagan’s innings came to an early close with the two remaining wickets falling with just 10 runs being added. They were, however, handed a bonus with 13 runs being added to the total as a penalty with the first innings score accumulating to 299. Bhowaipore’s innings got off to the worst possible start with Santosh Sabanayakan dismissed in what was an eventful first over bowled by Shami, which also saw two no balls and a boundary being scored apart from the wicket.
Shami and his new ball partner Sanjib Sanyal shared two wickets each in the first ten overs before first-change Sandeep Mondal too got in the act dismissing Ayan Bhattacharjee in his very first over as Bhowanipore were reduced to 24/5. Subham Chatterjee and Arnab Ghosh followed soon after before Uddipan Mukherjee and Sujit Kumar staged a mini-recovery with their 60-run partnership that helped Bhowanipore cross the 100-run mark.
Uddipan remained to top score for his side with 41 while Shami wound up the opposition innings picking up the wicket of Geet Puri to complete his five-wicket haul. The addition of 20 runs as a penalty for short overs meant Bhowanipore managed to avoid the follow-on with a total of 153 on the board, but Bagan didn’t seem to mind it much as they set about enhancing their grip on the match with a quick start to the second innings.
Openers Jayojit Basu and Vivek Singh added 44 runs for the first wicket in less than 11 overs and the side has managed to maintain a run-rate around the 4-run mark since. The dismissals of skipper Subhomoy Das and Wriddhiman Saha off successive deliveries proved to be a minor blip as Arindam Ghosh and Anustup Majumdar prevented the fall of any further wickets.
At stumps on Day 2, Bagan were 150/4 after 38 overs with a 296-run lead over the opposition and six wickets in hand. As many as seven wickets fell in just the first half of the first session as the pink ball provided deadly help to the Bagan fast bowlers.
