Ranji Trophy 2018-19: Bengal win thriller against Tamil Nadu; Gujarat thrash Mumbai by nine wickets

Chennai: Bengal snatched an exciting one-wicket win against Tamil Nadu to earn six points in a Ranji Trophy Group ‘B’ match at the MA Chidambaram stadium here Saturday. Bengal moved to 12 points and second spot in the points table with its first win of the season. Requiring 216 for victory, the visitors scraped home in a tense finish as Tamil Nadu spinner Rahil S Shah came up with another five-wicket haul to keep the team in the hunt. Praditpa Pramanik was the hero for Bengal with a knock of 25 (97 balls, 1X6) as he batted with determination under pressure to guide the team home. [caption id=“attachment_4393551” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty Images[/caption] Tamil Nadu mounted pressure on the Bengal batsmen with Shah being the dangerman but they came through showing skills to play on a wearing wicket. The home side began the day looking for wickets and earned early success when the Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary, the key man in the chase, fell leg-before wicket to T Natarajan for 25. It was anyone’s game as Bengal needed over 100 runs to secure a win. Sudip Chaterjee (40) brought his experience to the fore and scored important runs as the team inched forward. Tamil Nadu fought back by taking a clutch of wickets as Shah removed Anustup Majumdar, Writtick Bijoy Chatterjee and Shreevats Goswami to leave Bengal tottering at 150 for 7. Sudip Chatterjee and Pramanik added 55 runs a little over 25 overs, keeping the attack-minded TN bowlers at bay, to bring Bengal closer. Chatterjee was stumped by N Jagadeesan with Bengal nine runs short of the target to produce more drama. Ashoke Dinda (1) was run out by Shah with two runs to get. However, Pramanik and No.11 batsman Ishan Porel scampered through a leg-bye to seal a memorable victory, the first of the season for Bengal. Bengal opener Abhishek Kumar Raman was named man of the match for his knocks of 98 and 53 on a tough wicket for batsmen. Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 263 all out and 141 all out lost to Bengal 189 all out and 216 for 9 in 82.5 overs (Abhishek Kumar Raman 53, Sudip Chatterjee 40, Pradipta Pramanik 25 not out, Rahil Shah 5 for 68). Priyank Panchal’s ton leads Gujarat to 9-wicket win over Mumbai Skipper Priyank Panchal stuck a blistering hundred as Gujarat stunned hosts Mumbai by nine wickets in their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy game here on Saturday. Courtesys Panchal’s unbeaten 112 off 109 balls, Gujarat overhauled the 204-run target in just 41.5 overs and raced to victory despite conceding the first innings lead to the 41-time champions on the last day of the four-day game at the Wankhede Stadium. The 28-year-old Panchal and Kathan Patel (55 in 85 balls) laid the foundation for their come-from-behind win with a 128-run stand for the opening wicket. Panchal hammered 11 fours and 3 sixes in his match-winning knock. After Kathan Patel fell, Bhargav Merai (34 not out in 57 balls) and Panchal took the side home without much fuss. With this win, Gujarat became the first side to beat domestic giants Mumbai outright on four occasions. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have won on 3 occasions each. Earlier, Mumbai resumed the day at 157 for 7 but could add only 30 more runs to their tally as their second innings folded up at 187. In the second essay, Shivam Dubey played a valiant knock of 55, but his efforts went in vain. For Gujarat, pacers Chintan Gaja (4-57) and Roosh Kalaria (4-59) picked up four wickets each. With this emphatic win, Gujarat have topped Group A and B with 16 points from 2 wins from 4 games, while Mumbai are way below in the table and are still searching for their first win after three games. Meanwhile, at Raipur, reigning champions Vidarbha outclassed hosts Chhattisgarh by 10 wickets. At Mysuru, openers Devdutt Padikkal (77) and Dega Nischal (61) stuck timely half centuries as Karnataka defeated Maharashtra by seven wickets. The match between Saurashtra and Baroda at Rajkot ended in a draw with the visitors taking the first innings lead and three points with opener Kedar Devdhar striking a double century. Brief Scores: At Mumbai: 297 and 187 (Aditya Tare 59, Shivam Dubey 55, Chintan Gaja 4-57) lost to Gujarat 281 and 206/1 (Priyank Panchal 112 not out, Kathan Patel 55) by nine wickets. Gujarat 6 points, Mumbai 0. At Raipur: Chhattisgarh 232 and 143 (Sumit Raikar 39 not out, Lalit Yadav 7-56) lost to Vidarbha 332/6 declared and 46/0 (Akshay Wadkar 25 not out, Faiz Fazal 20 not out) by 10 wickets. Vidarbha 7 points, Chhattisgarh 0. At Rajkot: Saurashtra 521 versus Baroda 533/9(Kedar Devdhar 224, Vishnu Solanki 116,Hardik Rathod 3-98). Match drawn. Baroda 3 points, Saurashtra 1. At Mysuru: Maharashtra 113 and 256 lost to Karnataka 186 and 184/3 (Devdutt Padikkal 77, Dega Nischal 61, Satyajeet Bachhav 2-56) by 7 wickets. Karnataka 6 points, Maharashtra 0.