KOLKATA: Bengal bowlers made amends for a poor show against Maharashtra as they rose to the occasion to help the side record a 29-run victory against Rajasthan in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 meet at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Tuesday.
However, the foundation of the victory was laid by their batters led by Ritwik Roy Chowdhury who played a belligerent 51-run innings off only 32 balls. Coming down the order, Ritwik, making a comeback from injury, almost single-handedly lifted Bengal to 171 for nine in their 20 overs after being asked to bat first.
Abhimanyu Easwaran again failed to get going, falling for five only, but Sudip Gharami steadied things with a responsible 39 off 30 balls.
Ritwik was involved in two important stands of 39 runs with Shahbaz Ahmed (10) and unbeaten 19 with Pradipta Pramanik (10).
For Rajasthan left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed claimed three for 41 while Deepak Chahar picked up two for 37.
Pacer Akash Deep struck early dismissing opener Aditya Garwal in the first over and then claimed dangerman Mahipal Lomror (5) to derail Rajasthan’s chase. Opener Abhijeet Tomar played a lone hand getting 48 off 31 balls with the help of five fours and two sixes.
While Akash ended up with three for 29, Ishan Porel gave him good support finishing with three for 20 as Rajasthan finally stopped at 143 for nine.
Brief scores: Bengal 172/7 in 20 ovs (S Gharami 39, R Roy Chowdhury 51*; D Chahar 2-37, K Ahmed 3-41). Rajasthan 143/9 in 20 ovs (A Tomar 48; A Deep 3-29, I Porel 3-20). Bengal won by 29 runs.
