As expected, the second new ball did the trick for Bengal on a nippy Sunday morning here. Ashoke Dinda claimed all five wickets to fall on the final day and Railways suffered a 43-run defeat in the Ranji Trophy league match here.
Resuming its second innings at 196 for five — in pursuit of 315 to win — Railways ran in to an inspired Dinda and stopped at 271. The victory was Bengal's second in three matches. For Railways, the defeat was its third in succession from four outings.
Following this result in the nine-team Group ‘A’, Bengal moved the joint-top spot, with Gujarat, at 15 points and Railways brought up the rear with three points.
In just over an hour on Sunday, Railways scored 75 runs and lost five wickets to Dinda. Skipper Karn Sharma, overnight on 13, ran out of partners for a 76-ball 54, inclusive of three sixes and six boundaries.
Dinda, wicketless on Saturday, produced a spell of 6.2-1-26-5 to follow his five for 45 in the first innings. Railways pinned its hopes on the overnight sixth-wicket partnership between Mahesh Rawat and Karn. But once Dinda got going, there was no stopping Bengal.
Armed with the second new ball, taken in the final over on Saturday, Dinda provided the breakthrough in the day’s third over by trapping Rawat leg-before. Once the sixth-wicket partnership of 45 runs ended, an upbeat Dinda claimed two more wickets in his next over to raise visions of running through the tail.
After Anureet Singh hit two boundaries, Dinda bowled him to reduce Railways to 234 for nine. Thereafter, Karn used the long handle to good effect and delayed the inevitable. Karn’s 10th wicket-stand with Karan Thakur was worth 37 runs off just 5.3 overs before Dinda castled the latter.
The scores:
Bengal — 1st innings: 205.
Railways —1st innings: 105
Bengal — 2nd innings: 214
Railways — 2nd innings: Saurabh Wakaskar c Shaw b Kuila 11, Shivakant Shukla c Dinda b Ghosh 83, Mrunal Devdhar b Kuila 0, V. Cheluvaraj lbw b Kuila 0, Arindam Ghosh lbw b Ghosh 51, Mahesh Rawat lbw b Dinda 34, Karn Sharma (not out) 54, Amit Mishra c Tiway b Dinda 5, Deepak Bansal c Saha b Dinda 1, Anureet Singh b Dinda 10, Karan Thakur b Dinda 1; Extras (b-4, lb-6, nb-10, w-1): 21; Total (in 93.2 over): 271.
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-22, 3-22, 4-156, 5-165, 6-210, 7-220, 8-222, 9-234.
Bengal bowling: Ashoke Dinda 26.2-5-67-5, Amit Kuila 26-6-53-3, Sayan Ghosh 23-2-89-2, Sayan Mandal 2-0-6-0, Manoj Tiwary 4-0-26-0, Amir Gani 12-2-20-0.
Bengal won by 43 runs.
Man-of-the-match: Ashoke Dinda .
Points: Bengal 6, Railways 0 .
