The weather in Shillong, or maybe the opposition faced here, seems to have a positive effect on Bipin Saurabh. Making his debut for Bihar in the last season, the now 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batter had scored his first century against Meghalaya in the 2022 Ranji Trophy and the 107 scored on the day had been his highest score, till Tuesday.
Cut to the 2023 season and the first day of their Ranji Trophy Plate Group semifinal against the northeastern hosts, the diminutive right-hand batter bettered that performance to score 177 on Day 1 at Meghalaya Cricket Association Cricket Ground in Shillong to carry the team to 329 for the loss of six wickets, in spite of a lacklustre show from most of his fellow batters.
Scored at a brisk strike rate of 96.72, Saurabh needed just 183 balls to accumulate his total. His tally of 12 boundaries and 11 sixes sent the Meghalaya bowlers on a leather hunt for most of the day. It was only in the third last or 76th over on Tuesday that Akash Chowdhury caught him off an Abhishek Kumar delivery, to the relief of the opposition bowlers.
Sent into bat by Meghalaya, Bihar were dwindling at 157 for 3 when the other top performer for them on the day, Sachin Kumar, was dismissed on 75. However, Saurabh and No. 5 Sakibul Gani held fort after that and added 119 runs for the fourth wicket. Gani missed out on a half-century and was caught behind on 43 with the visitors' score reading 276/4 then.
Meghalaya left-arm spinner Arbin Singh was the most successful of the bowlers as he claimed three important dismissals. He bowled out the in-form Sachin and forced Gani to nick the ball to skipper Punit Bisht behind stumps. His figures of 3 for 79 was the most impressive of the Meghalaya bowlers, with Abhishek taking two wickets and Akash claiming the other.
When stumps were called on the day, skipper Ashutosh Aman (15 batting) and Veer Pratap Singh (1 batting) were at the crease.
Brief score: Bihar 329/6 (Sachin 75, B Saurabh 177, S Gani 43; Arbin 3-79) vs Meghalaya. Match to continue.
