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Four-wicket win for Bengal

Principal Correspondent

JOB WELL DONE: Rohan Gavaskar and Deep Dasgupta have a reason to cheer after they guided Bengal to a win. — Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

HYDERABAD: Everything went according to the script for Bengal despite early morning blues when it lost two quick wickets. It eventually posted a four-wicket win over Hyderabad on the final day of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group `B' match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Uppal, here on Friday.

Medium-pacer Alfred Absolom struck two early blows, forcing Manoj Tiwari to snick to wicketkeeper Ibrahim Khaleel and trapping A. Jhunjhunwala leg before, to reduce Bengal to 97 for four. But he did not get support from the other end.

The tall and lanky Kaushik Reddy and M.P. Arjun made the cardinal error of pitching it too short on a pitch, which offered some bite in the morning. Consequently, Bengal captain Deep Dasgupta (50 not out, 151b, 5x4) and Saurashish Lahiri (29, 94b, 4x4) had few problems in stitching together a useful 63-run stand, which pushed Hyderabad virtually out of the match.

Glimmer of hope

Once there was a glimmer of hope, but it vanished thanks to Absolom, who floored a simple catch at mid-off off Deep Dasgupta's uppish drive against left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha when the score read 152 for four.

It was yet another hard lesson for Ojha who failed to come good under pressure again. His inability to pose any threat even in the fourth innings of a match should be a matter of concern for the Hyderabad think tank.

The only consolation was when he had the hard-hitting Laxmi Ratan Shukla stumped smartly by Khaleel. Even Kaushik disappointed in not providing the vital breakthroughs.

And, when Rohan Gavaskar lofted Kaushik straight over mid-off to signal a brilliant win for Bengal, the despondent faces of Hyderabad players said it all, for they lost a match which they at least could have drawn after taking such a convincing lead.

"The top order let us down. We can't just explain why they keep throwing wickets away after looking so good. Since we have no options to look for, we are forced to persist with them or we could have dropped them on grounds of indisciplined batting," the Hyderabad coach, Vivek Jaisimha, said.

Decisive spell

Paras Mhambrey attributed Bengal's come-from-behind victory to that decisive spell by fast bowler Ranadeb Bose.

The scores:

Hyderabad — 1st innings: 309.

Bengal — 1st innings: 200.

Hyderabad — 2nd innings: 76.

Bengal — 2nd innings: Arindam Das c Ibrahim Khaleel b M.P. Arjun 10, A.P. Chakraborty lbw b M.P. Arjun 8, A.A. Jhunjhunwala lbw b A. Absolom 39, Manoj Tiwary c Ibrahim Khaleel b A. Absolom 23, Deep Dasgupta (not out) 50, S.S. Lahiri lbw b P. Kaushik Reddy 29, L.R. Shukla st Ibrahim Khaleel b Pragyan Ojha 4, R.S. Gavaskar (not out) 14, Extras (b-1, lb-10): 11; Total (for six wkts. in 76.4 overs): 188.

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-29, 3-82, 4-97, 5-160, 6-165.

Hyderabad bowling: Kaushik Reddy 20.4-8-58-1, Absolom 17-7-26-2, M.P. Arjun 19-5-34-2, Ojha 20-6-59-1.

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