Aditya Purohit batted with a calm assurance on the final day as his 122 off 219 balls guided Bengal to a position of strength against Mumbai on the final day of the second-round match of the Buchi Babu Tournament at the IITM Chemplast Ground on Sunday.
Each one of Purohit’s defensive strokes carried purpose; every shot was played with control, and with that ease, Bengal dictated proceedings before the match ended in a draw. Both sides shook hands and shared three points each after only managing to play an innings each due to time lost to rain on Saturday.
The left-hander’s innings was built around a marathon 205-run partnership with Saurabh Kumar Singh, who made 86 off 228 balls. The pair occupied the crease for 413 deliveries, wearing down Mumbai’s bowlers under the scorching sun. While the surface offered variable bounce, its slowness gave the batters enough time to adjust. In one such instance, Saurabh’s quick reaction to keep out a delivery that kept low from pacer Sylvester Dsouza drew applause from the Bengal camp and a glove punch from Purohit.
When captain Ayush Mhatre turned to a short-ball ploy, both batters handled it comfortably — ducking under most bouncers and occasionally pulling to the fence. Mumbai did its best to create pressure with loud appeals — one almost had the entire field going up in unison when Purohit missed a pull — but the breakthrough remained elusive. It finally came when Saurabh miscued a slog against spinner Naman Pushpak and was caught in the infield.
Anustup Majumdar joined Purohit to add 63 brisk runs off 56 balls before the opener was finally trapped leg-before by Akash Parkar. Mumbai struck twice more, removing Majumdar and Abishek Porel in quick succession, but Bengal still had the upper hand. Sumanta Gupta and Vishal Bhati then played out the remaining overs to close the game with a 59-run lead.
Published on Aug 24, 2025
