Kolkata: Arindam Ghosh, the Mohun Bagan batsman who represents Railways in the Ranji Trophy, on Monday became the first batsman to score a century with the pink ball in India in Cricket Association of Bengal’s experiment of four-day Super League fial under lights at Eden Gardens.
A day after India pacer Mohammed Shami hailed the 'radium-like' ball in his five-wicket haul, Ghosh made it really special with his 125 as it was the pink experiment that emerged the winner, giving both batsmen and bowlers something to rejoice.
A former India U-19 batsman, Ghosh who was unbeaten on 49 in his overnight score, battled severe hot and humid conditions in the afternoon to lead Mohun Bagan to 349 from 88.1 overs in the second innings, setting Bhowanipore a target of 496.
Ghosh smashed off-spinner Writtick Chatterjee over long on to reach the milestone, three overs before tea break as he hit 11 fours and five sixes in his knock from 225 balls, spanning five hours and nine minutes.
The Railways Ranji batsman made batting look easy as he shared an 84-run stand with Anustup Majumdar (39), the first innings topscorer with 83, while No 8 Sanjib Sanyal lent a fine 75-run partnership with a 68-ball 51 (7x4, 1x6).
There was some cheer for Bhowanipore seamer Ayan Bhattacharya who claimed 6/96 en route to bowl out Mohun Bagan in 88.1 overs.
In reply, Bhowanipore were 132/6 in 35 overs, still needing 364 to win with Shami (2/79) snaring the first two wickets in a marathon 15-over spell.
Seamers Sourav Mondal (2/14) and Vivek Singh (2/9) also claimed two each to leave Bhowanipore reeling at close on the penultimate day.
(With PTI inputs)
