Bengal have locked horns against Haryana in the quarter-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the domestic 50-over tournament in India. After losing the toss, Bengal have somehow managed to post 225 runs in their 50 overs thanks to Shahbaz Ahmed's stunning century who helped his side recover from 130/6.
For the unversed, Shahbaz has played 3 ODIs and 2 T20Is for India and did well for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 39 matches he played for the franchise. However, ahead of the IPL 2024 auction, RCB traded him to Sunrisers Hyderabad including Mayank Dagar in their squad. The all-rounder has proved his worth with the bat which is now a good news for SRH who will be hoping that he excels as an all-rounder in the upcoming season of the cash-rich league.
Shahbaz improved with every passing season for RCB but it was surprising that the franchise decided to trade him. Nevertheless, the cricketer will be keen on doing well for SRH now. He has scored 187 runs in 8 matches so far for Bengal in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy and also picked up 11 wickets in seven innings. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he picked up five wickets in seven matches while also scoring 73 runs down the order at a strike-rate in excess of 160.
Shahbaz can certainly be an asset for SRH in IPL 2024 but for now, the cricketer will be focussed on featuring in domestic cricket especially in the ongoing knockout fixture against Haryana as Bengal will look to defend 225 runs. Shahbaz will be crucial with the ball too in the defence for his side.
Playing XIs
Bengal: Abishek Porel (wk), Ranjot Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ishan Porel, Karan Lal, Mohammed Kaif, Suman Das, Sudip Kumar Gharami (c), Anustup Majumdar, Ritwik Chowdhury, Pradipta Pramanik
Haryana: Ashok Menaria (c), Rohit Parmod Sharma (wk), Ankit Kumar, Yuvraj Singh, Himanshu Rana, Nishant Sindhu, Rahul Tewatia, Sumit Kumar, Harshal Patel, Anshul Kamboj, Yuzvendra Chahal
