Rohtak, Jan 29: Veteran Sudip Chatterjee struck a resolute half-century to hold the Bengal innings together as the visitors recovered to 168 for five on a curtailed opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match against Haryana here on Thursday.
Only 58 overs were possible after a delayed start due to dense fog, but Chatterjee stood firm with an unbeaten 78 off 177 balls, hitting five fours, even as wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end.
Left-arm rookie spinner Tanmay Baloda was the pick of the Haryana bowlers, returning figures of 3/38 from 11 overs, while Anshul Kamboj (1/16) and Amit Rana (1/51) chipped in with a wicket each.
Asked to bat after Haryana skipper Ankit Kumar won the toss, Bengal began steadily through Chatterjee and Abhimanyu Easwaran.
The opening stand yielded 61 runs before Baloda struck in the 24th over dismissing Abhimanyu for 26 off 69 balls.
The spinner then removed Sudip Kumar Gharami (1) in his next over to put Bengal under pressure.
But Chatterjee, fresh from a career-best 209 against Services in the previous game, once again anchored the innings and stitched useful stands to steady the side.
Having already sealed their quarterfinal berth with an innings win over Services, Bengal rested pace spearhead Mohammed Shami, who had claimed seven wickets in that match.
Earlier Bengal handed a debut to left-arm spinner Vikas Singh. (PTI)
