Ranji Trophy: Bengal In Command As Jharkand Crumble On Day 4

Sayan Mondal and Shahbaz Ahmed snared four wickets each to Bengal in the driver's seat against Jharkhand on day four of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final on Thursday. Courtesy of an impressive performance by the bowlers, Bengal obtained a massive 475-run first-innings lead. The overall lead after the day's play stood at a staggering 551 runs. The Abhimanyu Easwaran-led side seemed to have put one foot in the semi-final.

Bengal, who declared their first innings at 773/7, had created a global first-class record, when all nine-batters, who took guard, scored half centuries.

Jharkhand, who started from their overnight score of 139/5, were bundled out for a meagre 298 in the first innings, as right-arm pacer Mondal (4/71) and left-arm spinner Ahmed, (4/51), who shined for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, wreaked havoc.

For Jharkhand, Virat Singh, who remained unbeaten on 113, striking 15 boundaries and three sixes, was the lone warrior. All the other batters failed to make a mark and surrendered in front of the Bengal attack.

All-rounder Anukul Roy (4) was the first one to be dismissed on Thursday after he became Mondal's fourth victim and was caught by Sudip Gharami.

Wickets kept tumbling for Jharkhand even as Ahmed spun his web around the opposition and ran through the lower-middle order.

Shahbaz Nadeem (25), Rahul Shukla (5), Sushant Mishra (9) failed to provide necessary support to Singh and made a beeline to the pavilion.

Pacer Akash Deep (1/64) ably supported Sayan and Ahmed and played his part to perfection. He cleaned up last man Ashish Kumar (14) as Bengal obtained a massive 475-run first innings lead.

But skipper Abhimanyu decided against enforcing the follow-on.

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In the second instance, Bengal