Arindam Das (177) stars for Bengal in drawn game

The East Zone Under-22 match between Bengal and Tripura at the Polytechnic Ground in Agartala meandered to a draw on the third and final day on Thursday. Bengal took home five points by virtue of the 113-run first innings lead while Tripura had to be content with three.

Opting to bat on the first day, Bengal declared at 387 for 9. Opener Arindam Das (177) held the visitors' innings together. After the early loss of his partner Prasanta Sinharoy (1), Arindam shared a 126-run second wicket partnership with stumper AA Sikdar (40). The fall of Sikdar triggered a minor collapse, and Bengal found themselves losing four more wickets.

Subrahdip Ganguly (90) joined Arindam at this juncture and 126 runs for the seventh wicket. Arindam was the eighth batsman to be dismissed caught by Saha off R Ghosh. Arindam, who stay at the crease for close to eight hours faced 305 balls hit 28 boundaries.

In reply, Tripura scored 254 thanks chiefly to some useful contributions by the middle order. M Gupta (63) was the top scorer. The only significant partnership in the innings was shared by M Gupta and C Sachdeva (56) for the third wicket which was worth 75 runs. Thereafter none of the Tripura batsmen made any significant scores. Bengal in their second innings lost three wickets while putting up 157 on the board. Arindam Das was again the top scorer with a fine 60. Bengal managed to receive 48 overs on the final day before stumps were drawn after the 8th mandatory over with the score 157 for three.