Bengal have beaten defending champions Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 semi-final at Holkar Stadium, Indore. Left-arm spinner Pradipta Pramanik's fifer on Day 5 helped Bengal win the match in second session by a massive margin of 306 runs.
The day's play started off with the wicket of tailender Ishan Porel. Avesh Khan got the wicket of Porel off the fourth ball he bowled in the first session. Bengal could not add one run to their overnight score and got all out for 279.
Madhya Pradesh were set a target of 548 on Day 5. After getting out for 170 in the first innings, thanks to Akash Deep's fifer, MP batters decided to go down fighting. They tried to score freely from the start and it showed. Himanshu Mantri was the first to fall after scoring 16 runs. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed took his wicket. Yash Dubey hit a few boundaries but he got dismissed by Deep in the 15th over after scoring 30 runs at a strike rate of 83.33.
Pramanik started to operate from one end and got the wickets of Shubham Sharma (24), Venkatesh Iyer (19) in the first session. Rajat Patidar carried the run chase on his back and got to his half-century. Patidar scored 52 runs from 58 deliveries and entertained the crowd with two fours and four sixes. Mukesh Prasad got the prized wicket of Patidar. The run out of skipper Aditya Shrivasatava (29) meant that the game will not go into the third session.
Mukesh struck again to dismiss Saransh Jain whereas Pramanik got the rest of wickets and completed his five-wicket haul in the 11th over he bowled. Meanwhile, no.10 batter Anubhav Agarwal had his fun in the middle hitting as many as four sixes in his unbeaten 30 off 12 deliveries. MP got all out for 241 from 39.5 overs and lost the game by 306 runs.
Earlier, in the second innings, Anustup Majumdar and (80) Pramanik (60*) scored half-centuries to extend the lead. Earlier on Day 1, Manoj Tiwary won the toss and opted to bat first. Centuries from Sudip Kumar Gharami (112) and Majumdar (120) helped Bengal post 438.
Bengal will now play Saurashtra in the final of Ranji Trophy 2022-23.
