Sloppy fielding and a missed stumping opportunity cost Bengal dear as they crashed out of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, losing by eight wickets to Tamil Nadu at Eden Gardens on Monday.
By virtue of this win, Tamil Nadu qualified for the knockout stages, finishing the group stage undefeated.
Bengal, though, did have their moments, putting up a competitive 163 for eight on the board after being sent in to bat. Kaif Ahmed’s unbeaten 63 helped them past 160.
Thereafter, they had Tamil Nadu under a bit of pressure, reducing them to 57 for two in the ninth over.
A great opportunity came their way then to get rid of the in-form Narayan Jagadeesan, but Sreevats Goswami fluffed a relatively easy stumping chance off Arnab Nandi’s bowling.
And in the very next ball, Jagadeesan rubbed salt into Bengal’s wounds by hammering the off-spinner for a maximum.
Summarised scores
- Bengal 163/8 in 20 ovs (K. Ahmed 63 n.o., B. Aparajith 2/20). Tamil Nadu 167/2 in 18 ovs (N. Jagadeesan 71 n.o.). Tamil Nadu won by 8 wickets.
- Assam 148/5 in 20 ovs (R. Parag 42; G. Poddar 2/28). Odisha 154/6 in 19 ovs (S. Senapati 64). Odisha won by 4 wickets.
- Hyderabad 139/8 in 20 ovs (V. Tiwari 3/25) & 14/1. Jharkhand 139/9 (A. Roy 28 n.o.; AD Goud 4/22) & 23/0. Jharkhand won via Super Over.
