CALCUTTA (India): There were smiles all around in the Bengal camp after they defeated Karnataka by 174 runs in the semifinal on Tuesday to advance into the Ranji Trophy final after 13 years.
Mukesh Kumar scythed through Karnataka’s middle order in the second innings, ending up with six wickets school as Bengal qualified for the final after 2006-2007 season.
Anustup Majumdar, who scored an unbeaten 149 in the first innings and 41 in the second, is the player of the match. His first-innings effort rescued the side after it was struggling at 67 for 6.
But the win was also scripted by fast bowlers Ishan Porel, who scythed through the Karnataka top order in the first innings, and Mukesh.
Karnataka began the fourth day with their backs to wall, still needing 253 runs to get with seven wickets in hand. Manish Pandey’s dismissal after the addition of just one run to team’s total began the procession. Mukesh hastened Karnataka’s downward spiral with two wickets off successive deliveries – dismissing K Siddharth and S Sharath.
Abhimanyu Mithun and Krishnappa Gowtham threw their bat around for a brief while, but by this point, Bengal’s victory was a matter of when, not if. They needed just 17.3 overs to pick the seven wickets, powering through to the final.
Brief scores: Bengal 312 & 161 (Sudip Chatterjee 45, Anustup Majumdar 41; Abhimanyu Mithun 4-23) beat Karnataka122 & 177 (Devdutt Padikkal 62; Mukesh Kumar 6-61) by 174 runs
