Bhowanipore fighting on but Mohun Bagan in command after Day 3 of Super League final

Despite putting up a brave fight, Mohun Bagan are well in command in their Super League final against Bhowanipore who are still 377 runs away from a highly improbable victory at the end of Day 3. Resuming at the overnight total of 148/4, Bagan's Arindam Ghosh created history by becoming the first centurion in pink-ball cricket in India to guide his side to 349 in their second innings.

Chasing 576 for victory, Bhowanipore finished the penultimate matchday at 119/3 with Mohammed Shami continuing his good work from the first innings by picking up two wickets. Much of Bhowanipore’s hopes are pinned squarely on the pair of Parthasarathi Bhattacharjee and Uddipan Mukherjee who were batting in the middle on 34 and 11 respectively before the day came to a close.

Contrary to the staggering fall of wickets on the previous day, Monday saw the batsmen slightly dominate proceedings as Bagan strengthened their hold on the match thanks to Ghosh’s fine knock. The quick dismissals of Wriddhiman Saha and skipper Subhomoy Das on the previous day may have cast a doubt on Bagan’s supremacy going into the day, but the former Kolkata Knight Riders batsman was well in command right from the start of play.

Ghosh found good support from Sanjib Sanyal who brought up his second half-century of the match scoring 51, with the Bagan No 8 scoring the bulk of the scoring in the pair’s 75-run partnership. The more unlikely source of runs for Bagan though came from Shami who smashed 27 off just 16 balls to demoralise the opposition who were hopeful of finishing off the Bagan tail in a hurry.

Ghosh was the last batsman to be dismissed after scoring 125 off 225 balls, helping Bagan reach 349 in their second innings and thus set up a daunting target of 576 for Bhowanipore. Rather than bowing down to the opposition, the Bhowanipore openers were not content to just stick around and instead played their shots with confidence. Subham Chatterjee was the pick of the batsmen scoring 50 off just 43 balls before being dismissed by Sourav Mondal.

Yet again though, it was Shami who came out on top picking up the other two wickets to fall in the second innings and Bhowanipore will be hoping their strongest combination will be able to pull off a rescue act before curtains fall on India’s first-ever pink-ball match.