On January 27, 2020, Bengal and Delhi clashed at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata during the Ranji Trophy season that began in December 2019. Delhi won the toss and chose to field, leaving A. Raman and KB Ghosh to start the first innings for Bengal.
The Ranji Trophy series which is been commencing from 2019 December, had Bengal Vs Delhi in the Eden Garden, Kolkata on 27th January 2020. Bengal batted the first innings where Delhi won the toss and decided to field, A Raman and KB Gosh opened for the team.
The opening stand didn't last long as Raman was dismissed for 9 runs off 19 balls, making way for the left-handed Kazi Saifi. KB Ghosh showed more resilience, scoring 46 runs from 122 balls before Jonty Sidhu claimed his wicket. Bengal's vice-captain, Manoj Tiwary, had a tough outing; despite his previous form of scoring multiple centuries, he was stumped by Anuj Rawat off Vikas Mishra's bowling for only 7 runs.
Following the lunch interval, Anustup Majumdar anchored the innings, slowly accumulating runs. The Eden Gardens surface was predominantly batting-friendly, which suited Majumdar's specific style perfectly. While the Delhi bowlers tried various strategies to get him out, Majumdar's superior footwork allowed him to cover the deliveries with ease. He put in a massive effort, eventually exiting the field with 99 runs from 189 balls, agonizingly close to a hundred.
After Majumdar was run out, other batsmen helped boost the total, with Shreevats Goswami contributing 59 runs off 84 balls and Shahbaz Ahmed adding 46 from 74 deliveries. A late partnership between Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar (who remained unbeaten) added another 19 runs off 42 balls, resulting in Bengal being all out for a total of 318.
Delhi's Kulwant Khejroliya struggled to contain the scoring, and the team felt the heavy absence of Ishant Sharma, who was sidelined with an ankle injury. The standout performers for Delhi's bowling attack were Simarjeet Singh, who took 4 wickets, and Vikas Mishra, who claimed 3. Coach KP Bhaskar noted that the bowlers should have utilized more bouncers against the front-foot dominant batsmen and mentioned that Khejroliya, returning from injury, wasn't yet at his peak performance.
By the end of the first day, Delhi's Hiten Dalal had scored 40, while Dhruv Shorey remained unbeaten on 59 from 110 balls. N. Das provided the breakthrough for Bengal with 2 wickets, leaving Delhi needing 183 more runs to match Bengal's score. Reflecting on the game, Anustup Majumdar admitted that the loss of wickets was avoidable and suggested the team might need a fresh start.