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Tripura vs Bengal, Ranji Trophy 2025-26, Day 3: Dropped catches and Vihari’s ton keep the game hanging in balance

Hanuma Vihari's unbeaten 121 and three dropped catches from the Bengal team kept the game hanging in balance as the home side now need 63 runs for three points, while Bengal require three wickets.

Koushik BiswasNovember 3, 2025 at 02:12 PM • 5 min read
Tripura vs Bengal, Ranji Trophy 2025-26, Day 3: Dropped catches and Vihari’s ton keep the game hanging in balance
Hanuma Vihari's unbeaten 121 and three dropped catches from the Bengal team kept the game hanging in balance as the home side now need 63 runs for three points, while Bengal require three wickets.

Three dropped catches, a solid 25th first-class ton from Hanuma Vihari, and wicketless Mohammed Shami - these were the highlights of day 3, Tripura vs Bengal, Group C, Ranji Trophy 2025-26 match at Maharaja Bir Bikram Stadium in Agartala. Hanuma Vihari’s unbeaten 128 took Tripura close to Bengal’s 336 in the first as the home side finished on 273/7 at the end of day 3.

Bengal were bundled for 336

Bengal could only add one more run to their overnight score as Tripura captain Manishankar Murasingh’s fifth ball of the first over kept a bit low and castled the stumps of Shahbaz Ahmed, who was dismissed on 40. Despite a 108 from Sudip Gharami and 95 from Shakir Habib Gandhi, Bengal had to be satisfied with 336 in the first inning. Murasingh finished with 3 wickets, as did Rana Dutta.

Excellent start from Bengal

Everyone knew with the form Tripura batters were in and the strength of the Bengal bowling lineup, 336 was a good total on the board. Although Mohammed Shami did not strike in the first hour, it was his brother Mohammed Kaif, who took three early wickets to send the Tripura top order back to the pavilion.

Kaif dismissed Bikram Kumar Das on 19, who tried to guide the ball towards third man and played down the ball onto the stumps. Ishan Porel then rattled the stumps of Hrituraj Ghosh Roy with an inswinger, and Bengal had the early momentum.

Kaif then had a double wicket over to break into the middle order of the Tripura batting lineup. Sridam Paul could not gauge the inswinger from Kaif and lost his stumps, while Bikramjit Debanth was trapped in front of the stumps by the medium pacer two balls later.

Shahbaz Ahmed then outfoxed Swapnil Singh to lure him out of the crease, and Abishek Porel did the rest to make it 53/5 before lunch.

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Hanuma Vihar’s steady ton kept Tripura in the match

With a chance of follow-on lurking on their mind, Hanuman Vihari, the 12-Test experienced professional from Andhra Pradesh, took Tripura out of the misery. However, Vihari gave two chances before making the innings look solid and perfect.

First, it was debutant wicket-keeper batter Sentu Sarkar, who looked good and provided solid support to Vihari. Their partnership of 40 off 87 balls steadied the ship a bit, though they were not out of trouble by any means. Sentu was dismissed by Bengal’s debutant Rahul Prasad, which made the scoreboard look 93/6.

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Dropped catches gave Tripura an opening

First on 33, Abishek Porel could not hold on to a tough chance to his right as Kaif produced a ripper to find the edge of Hanuma Vihari. Then, on 53, it was Bengal’s stand-in captain Abishek Porel again, who missed a dolley off Ishan Porel to hand Vihari another life.

Meantime, Vijay Shankar kept on hitting occasional boundaries with the pain in his hamstring. Bengal then again had a chance to get Shankar out, but Anustup Majumdar dropped a tough chance at wide first slip to give him a chance.

Abishek Porel, who had gone out after getting injured, returned as a fielder and took a good catch to finally dismiss Vijay Shankar on 34. Kaif, with this fourth one of the inning, proved why he was a good inclusion to the playing XI.

Vihari then did not give any chance and reached his 25th first-class ton in a classy manner to keep the fight on for Tripura. Captain Manisankar Murasingh also added an unbeaten, valuable 42 off 75 to give him the support.

Bengal look to strike early with the new ball

In the final hour of the day, Bengal deliberately slowed the game down to wait for a new ball. They want to strike with the new ball early on the final day and grab those three points. But, between them and those three points will be a steady Hanuma Vihari and a calm Manisankar Murasingh.

Bengal needs three wickets while Tripura requires 63 runs in a battle for three points in Agartala. Check our LIVE blog to check real-time updates of Day 4.

Tags:

Bengal CricketIndian Domestic CricketRanji TrophySportz Point SpeaksAbishek PorelSudip GharamiMohammed ShamiHanuma Vihari

Koushik Biswas

Koushik Biswas is the founder and content head of Sportz Point. He has been a sports lover since his childhood, idolising Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and Lionel Messi. Koushik played cricket for 7 years and has a passion for every sport. His nack for analysing games and talking about sports has helped him create hundreds of content for Sportz Point.

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