Bengal made it to the quarter finals of the Ranji Trophy on Friday after an innings and 50-run victory over Haryana in their Elite Group A match at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Lahli.
Bengal pacer Akash Deep, who finished with five for 51 in the second innings and had a 10-wicket match haul, was the standout performer.
Mukesh Kumar (3/62) and Ishan Porel (2/42) also impressed as Haryana, following on were bundled out for just 206 in their second innings. They had managed 163 in the first innings.
Bengal posted a massive 419 in their first innings, thanks to Anustup Majumdar’s 145.
The victory helped the Manoj Tiwary-led side remain on top of Group A with 32 points from six games, having won four and drawn two. They still have a game in hand in the league phase against Odisha, which begins at Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
Resuming on their overnight score of 177/7, the home side managed to add only 29 runs before their innings ended in the 79th over.
Bengal head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla was happy with the team’s performance but wanted his boys to stay grounded.
“Good win, yes, but we have a long way to go. There is no place for complacency. There is no place for celebration. We need to work hard and fight together as a team,” said Shukla.
Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka have also entered the quarter finals with one round to go, while Bihar and Manipur will contest the Plate final.
In Delhi, Vaibhav Rawalscored a fine century before pacer Divij Mehra’s5/30 fizzled out Mumbai as Delhi notched a memorable eight-wicket win in a Group B match at the Kotla on Friday.
For the record, not only was this Delhi’s first win of the season, it was also their first outright win over Mumbai since the 1979-80 Ranji Trophy final, when Bishan SinghBedi’s side had got the better of Sunil Gavaskar’s team by 240 runs.
In the other matches, Rajasthan trounced Chhattisgarh by 167 runs in Jodhpur and Goa registered an impressive innings victory over Services in New Delhi.
Brief scores: Bengal 419. Haryana163 & 206 (Akash Deep 5/51, Mukesh Kumar 3/62, Ishan Porel 2/42). Bengal won by an innings and 50 runs.
Sunny bats for Sarfaraz
Calcutta: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has criticised the national selectors for keeping out Sarfaraz Khan from the Test squad. Sarfaraz aggregates 556 runs at 92.66 after playing nine innings so far in this season’s Ranji Trophy.
“At the end of the day, if you are unfit, you are not going to score hundreds. So cricket fitness is most important. I don’t have a problem with you wanting to do the Yo-Yo test or whatever it is, but the Yo-Yo test cannot be the only criterion,” he said on Sports Today.
“He is not staying off the field when he is scoring hundreds... All that tells you that the man is fit for cricket. If you are looking for only slim and trim guys, then you might as well go to a fashion show and pick some models and then give them a bat and ball. Don’t go by the size, but go by the runs and the wickets.”
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