Ranji Trophy 2022: Once struggling for training slots, young Gharami announces arrival with hundred

Sudip Gharami finally did justice to his talent with maiden first class hundred that steered Bengal to a commanding 310 for one against Jharkhand on the first day of Ranji Trophy quarter-final on Monday. Jharkhand's pedestrian effort with the ball also helped Bengal's cause as Gharami, who had a highest score of 27 in his four previous appearances, showed fine temperament and impressive technique en route his unbeaten 106-run knock that came off 204 balls with 13 fours and a six.

The stylish Anushtup Majumdar (85 batting, 139 balls) also played attractive shots as they added 178 runs for the unbroken second-wicket stand. While Gharami was methodical in his stroke-play, Majumdar's batted with utter disdain for rival bowlers as his innings could be called a highlight package of "pull-shots".

The Jharkhand attack was also hamstrung when Rahul Shukla sustained an injury while fielding just before the second new ball was taken. Bengal were inflicting the similar kind of ignominy that Jharkhand had inflicted on Nagaland when they made a mockery of a contest in the pre quarter-finals by scoring 880 runs.

Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (65) and Abhishek Raman (41 retd hurt) laid the foundation by blunting the new ball attack and then on a good batting surface, it was all about punishing the loose deliveries. Gharami comes of ageIn the past two seasons, good things were heard about Gharami, who had made his debut during the 2020 Ranji Trophy finals against Saurashtra but appeared shaky during that high-profile game.

Head coach Arun Lal, who has seen the 23-year-old as a teenager at his own cricket academy, always had faith in his talent and that shone through on the day. "He was once rejected from district age-group team because the