Bengal advanced into the Ranji Trophy final after beating the defending champions Madhya Pradesh by 306 runs in the semifinals at the Holkar Stadium on Sunday. Bengal will face Saurashtra, who beat Karnataka by four wickets in the other semifinal
The final clash will begin on the 16th of February and will be hosted by Bengal as they secured more points than their fellow finalist in the group stage. The previous time these two teams faced each other in a Ranji final was back in the 2019-2020 edition. Saurashtra had won the tournament and finished as champions, while Bengal had finished second best.
The star player of the semifinal for Bengal, was Akash Deep shattered the home side with a six-wicket haul to take his team to their second Ranji final appearance in three seasons.
Anustup Majumdar and Sudip Kumar Gharami contributed 200 and 153 runs, respectively in the first innings that took Bengal to a massive 438. Pradipta Pramanik was also brilliant as he registered an unbeaten 60, followed by a superb five-wicket haul in the second innings.
On the fifth and final day of the semifinal, Bengal posted 279 in their second innings, setting a target of 548 runs.
Chasing a big score, Madhya Pradesh got off to a positive start because of Yash Dubey (30) and Himanshu Mantri (16). But Shahbaz Ahmed and Akash Deep got rid of the openers to reduce the home side to 67/2.
Rajat Patidar (52) and Shubham Sharma (24) played sensibly to score some handy runs but the target was too big to chase on a final-day pitch.
However, Pramanik did not let the batters settle down as he dismissed Shubham and incoming batter Venkatesh Iyer (19) while Mukesh Kumar dismissed Patidar to have half their side back in the hut at 179/5. Thereafter, Pramanik also sent Kumar Kartikeya (6), Avesh Khan (0), and Gaurav Yadav (0) and ended with a superb five-wicket haul.
"It's still a long way to go, we have not yet achieved anything great to celebrate. I can only say the boys are playing well and captain Manoj Tiwary is leading from the front," said Bengal head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla.
"The atmosphere is really good in the dressing room. The players are playing hard and backing each other. Of course, the team is happy on reaching the final. But they are focused. Winning the Ranji Trophy is a great motivation and flying the CAB (Cricket Association of Bengal) flag high is something each and every one of us wants to do,” Tiwary said.
