Transformed Bengal in Vijay Hazare final

A mega jolt after facing an elite division ouster must have certainly taught a great lesson to the Bengal outfit as they instantly learnt from their previous mistakes and transformed in to a fresh unit, which is quite apparent with the way Bengal team made their way into the finals of the National One-dayers played for Vijay Hazare trophy.

Bengal skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who is in great touch, led from the front after facing ire from various sections. Shukla played an excellent knock of 59-ball 65 to steer Bengal to the final registering a convincing four-wicket win over holders Mumbai in the semi-final in Vishakhapatnam on Monday.

Bengal will now fight it out with the victor of Tuesday’s semi-final between Saurashtra and Vidarbha. The final will be played on Thursday.

Chasing the target of 250, Bengal romped home after losing just six wickets with 26 balls to spare. Mumbai had the upper hand in the match till the 27th over but they further couldn’t be able to take hold of match further.

Skipper Shukla (65, 59b, 4x6, 1x6) and Das (55 not out, 51 b, 3x4, 3x6) added crucial 94 runs off 90 balls for the fifth-wicket to take away the match from Mumbai’s hands. India under-19 world Cup winning member Srivats Goswami also made a notable contribution of 48 in Bengal’s victory.

Earlier Mumbai made 249 for nine in their allotted 50 overs after batting first, captain Amol Mazumdar (71) and opener Ajinkya Rahane (55) were the main contributors. Mumbai got off to a cautious start before Ranadeb Bose removed Sahil Kukreja (25) in the innings ninth over.

Promising Rahane, tournament’s leading run-getter, continued his domination as Mumbai reached to 94 for one by the 19th over. Left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena (4/50) then got rid of in-form Rahane to clinch the first of his four-wicket haul.

Skipper Mazumdar then steadied the innings with Avishek Nayar (32) but when the association was looking to blossom, Sourashish Lahiri struck to provide Bengal a much-needed breakthrough to stage a comeback in the match.

Shib Shankar Paul then castled Rohit Sharma (1) with wickets kept falling thereafter to leave them at 119 for 4. Muzumdar steadied along the innings well with his patient 71 as the Mumbai team could only manage 249 in their stipulated overs.

Brief Scores: Mumbai: 249 (Ajinkya Rahane 55, Amol Mazumdar 71) 249 lost to Bengal: 250 for six (Srivats Goswami 48, L.R. Shukla 65, Debabrata Das 55 n.o.).