KOLKATA: Bengal suffered their first defeat in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali (T20) meet when they went down to Madhya Pradesh by six wickets in Rajkot on Friday. The result saw the Laxmi Ratan Shukla-coached side slip to third spot on the table.
Some gusty hitting from opener Karan Lal and Shahbaz Ahmed helped Bengal put up a fighting 189 for nine after electing to bat first. But MP skipper Rajat Patidar continued his great form to steady the innings after Bengal bowlers made early inroads reducing them to 42 for two inside the first six overs.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru player quickly took control, sharing a solid 114-run third-wicket stand with Subhranshu Senapati (50) to keep Bengal at bay. However, pacer Sayan Ghosh raised hopes of a Bengal comeback when he dismissed both the batters in the same over. First he castled Senapati and then had Patidar caught by Ritwik Roy Chowdhury two balls later after Patidar hit his third half-century of this tournament getting 60 off just 40 deliveries with the help of six fours and four sixes.
However, the recently-held IPL auction’s sensation Ventakesh Iyer (12) and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (21) ensured there were no more hiccups as the duo took the side home getting 190 in 19.4 overs.
It was another poor show from comeback man Mohammed Shami who went for 38 runs in his four overs without any success. Pacers Kanishk Seth and Ghosh picked two wickets each.
Earlier Bengal made a fluent start in spite of losing the in-form Abhishek Porel (25) early, thanks to Lal’s dominating show. The all-rounder set up things well before being trapped in front for 44 off 30 balls as Bengal maintained a healthy almost 10-run per over rate. However, losing wickets in quick successions in the middle overs saw them stumble a bit.
Coming up the order, Shahbaz once again used his long handle to good use hitting four sixes for his 37 that came off facing 16 balls. Bengal lost three wickets in the last over to end probably 10 runs short. Leg-spinner Shivam Shukla did the maximum damage claiming four for 29.
Brief scores: Bengal 189/9 in 20 overs (K Lal 44, S Ahmed 37; S Shukla 4-29). MP 190/4 in 19.2 overs (R Patidar 68, S Senapati 50; S Ghosh 2-22). MP won by 6 wickets.
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