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Rishi Dhawan-led Himachal Pradesh is a team on a mission. After winning Vijay Hazare trophy earlier this year, they have progressed to the semi-final with an electrifying final-ball finish against Bengal in third quarter-final of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022. Riding high on Akash Vasisht's unbeaten 75, Nikhil Gangta's 50 and Rishi's cameo, Himachal Pradesh chased down the target of 200 and won the game by four wickets.
The run chase did not get off to an ideal start though. Prashant Chopra played too many dot deliveries before losing his wicket to Ravi Kumar. The boundaries started coming easily after the opener's wicket but Ankush Bains cameo (18) came was ended by Akash Deep in the fifth over. Sumeet Verma tried to use the fielding restrictions and scored 28 runs from 11 deliveries before Shahbaz Ahmed sent him back to the dressing room. Despite the top-order returning back to the pavilion, Himachal Pradesh were scoring at over 10 runs per over.
But Nitin Sharma's wicket in the seventh over meant that Himachal Pradesh needed a big partnership in the middle overs to setup for the death overs. Vasisht and Gangta did that for them. The fifth-wicket partnership changed the game. Both batters had completed their half-centuries but Ravi changed the game in the penultimate over. He kept the pressure on and Gangta got run out just before the final over. He scored 50 runs from 37 deliveries including three fours and two sixes in the 112-run partnership.
Ravi got rid of Pankaj Jaiswal off the last delivery of 19th over. Himachal Pradesh needed 17 runs off the final over as Rishi walked into the middle. Rishi got the strike when Vasisht needed 11 runs off final four deliveries. He hit two crucial boundaries and took a single to simply the equation. Vasisht managed to take a couple of runs off the final ball to win the game for Himachal Pradesh. He remained unbeaten for 76 runs from 42 deliveries including five fours and as many sixes.
Earlier Rishi won the toss at Videocon Academy Ground, Saltair, Kolkata, and chose to bowl first. The powerplay overs were quiet. Rishi got the wicket of opener Ranjot Singh (14) whereas Sudip Gharami got dismissed by Kanwar Abhinay Singh (7). Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (20) could not do much either and lost his wicket to Abhinay as well.
Karan Lal struggled in the middle and could hit just two boundaries during his 27-ball stay at the crease. When Rishi dismissed him, Bengal had 92 runs on the board with 38 balls remaining in the innings. Shahbaz went berserk and registered a quickfire half-century. The all-rounder scored 59 runs from 32 deliveries including four fours and as many sixes. In the slog overs Ritiwik Chowdhury (unbeaten 11-ball 32) and wicketkeeper-batter Agniv Pan's (28) cameos helped Bengal post 199/6.
