Kalyani (West Bengal), February 10 Bengal advanced to the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy after securing a comprehensive victory over Andhra, winning by an innings and 90 runs here on Tuesday. This victory was largely due to Sudip Kumar Gharami's outstanding innings of 299.
Resuming their second innings at 64 for three on the fifth day, Andhra effectively lost the match after conceding a massive first-innings lead of 334 runs on the fourth and penultimate day.
Bengal will now face Jammu and Kashmir in the semi-final, starting on February 15, while Karnataka and Uttarakhand will clash in the other semi-final match.
On the final day's play, Andhra hoped to avoid a complete defeat but left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed bowled crucial overs on a difficult pitch, helping Bengal secure a significant win.
Shahbaz returned impressive figures of 4/72, while Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal took two wickets. Akash Deep, Sumanta Gupta, and Anustup Majumdar also each took a wicket.
Mohammed Shami, an out-of-favour Indian seamer, who had shone with the bat for Bengal's impressive first-innings score of 629, bowled only three overs when Andhra batted for the second time in the match.
Nitish Kumar Reddy was the only bright spot for Andhra, as the Indian all-rounder batted resolutely to score 90 off 144 balls, with seven fours and two sixes.
Needing 270 runs to force Bengal to bat again, Andhra required a partnership between Reddy and Ricky Bhui (30), but the captain was dismissed by Shahbaz after he could only add 12 runs to his overnight score.
Soon after, Shahbaz dismissed Saurabh Kumar and then removed Reddy, finishing with impressive figures.
Tripurana Vijay (46) and Kalidindi Raju (25) managed to score some runs, but all they could do was delay the inevitable before Gupta dismissed Vijay to seal the match for his team.
KS Bharat, the wicketkeeper-batter, did not bat due to an injury.