Players Details
Fixture & Results
Bengal go down to Odisha by 7 wickets
27th January 2023
An in-form Bengal team went down fighting to Odisha in one of the biggest upsets of the Group.
Although Odisha won the match by seven wickets, the result will not have any impact as Bengal had already qualified for the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals prior to this match.
Earlier, despite a superb 101 by Abhimanyu Easwaran and half-centuries each by Manoj Tiwary and Sudip Kumar Gharami, Bengal's second innings folded for 276, thus setting a 112-run target to Odisha.
The visitors chased it down scoring 112/3 in 22.2 overs in their second innings on the fourth and final day at the Eden Gardens.
Bengal were bowled out for 100 in their first innings in reply to Odisha's score of 265.
Resuming the day from overnight score of 220/3, Bengal were put to tough test once again by the Odisha bowlers.
Easwaran, after bringing up his ton, fell cheaply followed by Tiwary to put Bengal in a spot of bother at 239/5.
However, Abishek Porel played a counter-attacking innings of 38 off 30 balls, striking 8 boundaries but wickets at the other end folded their innings at 276.
For Odisha, Sunil Kumar Roul (6-96) impressed with the ball. He finished with a nine-wicket haul in the match.
Chasing the target, top-order batters Anurag Sarangi (37) and Subhransu Senapati (22) gave the visitors a fine start.
After their dismissal, Sandeep Pattanaik (28) and Rakesh Pattanaik (20) remained unbeaten as Odisha went over the line easily.
The victory served as a perfect farewell for veteran Odisha bowler Basant Mohanty, who played his last Ranji game.
"The boys did put up a fight but we can count this as a bad day in office. We will surely fight back. Next match is a knockout and will be crucial. We will go all guns blazing to reach the semifinals," Bengal head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla said after the match.
CAB MEDIA DESK
Arindam Basu
