Nadia (West Bengal) [India], February 10 : Bengal have entered the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 after defeating Andhra by an innings and 90 runs on Day 5 in the quarter-final clash at Bengal Cricket Academy Ground in Kalyani on Tuesday.
Bengal will clash with Jammu and Kashmir in the semi-final match, starting February 15.
Opting to bowl first, Bengal halted Andhra at 295 and piled on 629 runs in the first innings. Sudip Kumar Gharami's 299 off 596 balls set the tone of Bengal's innings. Gharami fell one run short of his triple century after Shaik Rasheed bowled him in the 194th over to deny a well-deserved 300. He hit 31 fours and six sixes during his mammoth knock.
Sumanta Gupta made 81 off 167 balls, and the wicketkeeper batter Shakir Habib Gandhi missed his century by five runs.
Shaik Rasheed took four wickets as Saurabh Kumar and KV Sasikanth picked up a couple of wickets each.
Day 5 started with Andhra batting at 64/3 with captain Ricky Bhui and Nitish Kumar Reddy batting. Bhui lost his wicket in the 34th over when Shahbaz Ahmed dismissed him. KV Sasikanth followed him in the very next over, and Saurabh Kumar lost his wicket in the next over.
KS Narasimha Raju (25 off 67 balls) added 57 runs for the seventh wicket with Reddy but lost his wicket in the 54th over.
Nitish changed gears after that and added 85 runs for the eighth wicket with Tripurana Vijay.
Reddy made 90 runs off 144 balls with the help of seven fours and two sixes before losing his wicket to Shahbaz Ahmed.
Vijay (46 off 61 balls) gave his wicket to Sumanta Gupta in the next over. Wicketkeeper-batter Srikar Bharat did not come out to bat as Andhra lost the match by an innings and 90 runs.
In the first quarter-final match held at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur, Uttarakhand defeated Jharkhand by an innings and six runs. In the second quarter-final, Jammu and Kashmir registered a 56-run win over Madhya Pradesh, held at Holkar Stadium in Indore.
In the third quarter-final, Karnataka defeated the 42-time champions Mumbai by four wickets at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy in BKC.
In the other semi-final, Uttarakhand will take on Karnataka. The final will be played on February 24.