Madhya Pradesh put one foot into the knockout stage after a thrilling last-over win against Bengal during the fourth-round fixture of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Niranjan Shah Stadium Ground C here on Friday.
Mohammed Shami conceded nine runs in the penultimate over when Madhya Pradesh needed 22 runs. There was a bit of panic in the Bengal camp when Shami lay on the ground holding his lower back. However, he stood up after brief treatment to complete the over without further trouble.
With 13 needed off the final over, Kanishk Seth strayed away from his line and Harpreet Singh Bhatia made full use of it to gather two fours to begin the over. Bhatia then gave the strike to Venkatesh Iyer, who completed the 190-run chase with another four.
MP thrived in the chase when Rajat Patidar (68 off 40) and Subhransu Senapati (50 off 33) were at the crease, manipulating the field and finding boundaries regularly.
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Bengal paid the price for dropping Patidar early in his innings as he carried his form from the last game. The MP captain found the fence effortlessly, hitting six fours and four sixes, including two slog sweeps against Writtick Chatterjee in the same over. Senapati went after Pradipta Pramanik, smacking him for two sixes and as many boundaries.
The game opened up in the 17th over when Sayan Ghosh removed both the set batters within six deliveries. Senapati’s off-stump was uprooted when he missed a slog and Patidar miscued one straight to long-on.
But Iyer and Bhatia held their nerves and ensured MP remained unbeaten in group ‘A’.
After opting to bat, Bengal batters showed urgency to score runs from the start. Abishek Porel and Karan Lal hit 46 runs in the first four overs. Porel targeted Avesh Khan, hitting him for two sixes and as many fours. He was later caught trying to play a slog sweep against Kumar Kartikeya.
Karan Lal took down Iyer for two fours and six in one over, adding 45 runs for the second wicket with Shakir Habib Gandhi. Lal was struck in front after hitting Shivam Shukla for two fours.
Gandhi, too, cleared the rope against both Shukla and Kartikeya and was involved in a 29-ball 42-run stand with his captain Sudip Gharami. Eventually, Shukla had both the batters caught in the same over.
Shahbaz Ahmed launched Kartikeya over the rope thrice and pulled Avesh for another maximum during his quickfire 37 off 16 balls. He was then caught at deep square leg trying to clear a full toss off Tripuresh Singh.
Ahmed’s dismissal in the 19th over followed by three wickets in the last, including two runouts, kept Bengal’s score to 189/9 when it looked on its way to touch the 200-run mark at one point.
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