Saha ton in vain as Bengal fall short
A defiant 116 by Wriddhiman Saha helped Bengal get close but couldn't prevent a 21-run defeat to India B in Rajkot
A defiant 116 by Wriddhiman Saha helped Bengal get close but couldn't prevent a 21-run defeat to India B in Rajkot
Scorer: Kumar Chandan | Commentator: Devashish Fuloria
India B progress to the final of the Challenger Trophy after a 21-run win over Bengal. Cheteshwar Pujara has been named Man of the Match for his second successive hundred, a well-controlled innings where he took his time before exploding right at the tail-end of the innings. Praveen Kumar, however, was the batsman who made a difference for India B with an explosive half-century.
In response, Bengal were all at sea for the first few overs, but Wriddhiman Saha played another special innings to help Bengal get this far. He was helped along the way by the impressive youngster Sandipan Das, who scored a half-century along with the five wickets he picked up during India B's innings. A late assault by Debabrata Das threatened to shake India B of their seemingly stable perch, but unfortunately for Bengal, he ran out of partners. Munaf Patel used all his experience towards the end of the innings to intimidate the tail-enders with short-pitched stuff and accounted for four wickets, while Debabrata remained stuck at non-striker's end when big runs were needed.
The final will take place tomorrow and promises to be a cracking game between two evenly matched sides. Thank you for staying with us for this match. This is Devashish Fuloria signing off for now. Cheerios.
I Saxena c Pujara b Kumar 0 (4m 3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
Four wickets for Munaf after an ordinary first match. He has used the bounce available on the pitch to really test the tail-enders
A defiant 116 by Wriddhiman Saha helped Bengal get close but couldn't prevent a 21-run defeat to India B in Rajkot