Bengal and Orissa win convincingly as others settle for draws

Thanks to a fine all round display, Bengal scored a convincing 10 wicket win over Bihar in the East Zone league match at East Calcutta District Sports Council Ground at Calcutta on Thursday. Opting to bat first, Bihar on the opening day were bundled out for just 161 runs with leg spinner Sarnendu Sankar Pal reaping a rich five wicket haul. In reply Bengal took a 134 run first innings lead helped by a fine 123 by S Mukherjee.

Bihar in their second innings were let down by some shoddy batting display and were all out with just 136 on the board. The fact that three of the top batsmen failed to open their account did not help Bihar's cause. Seamer Abishek Saha (4 for 70) was the most successful bowler for Bengal. Bengal completed the final rites by scoring the required 2 runs.

Meanwhile the Engineering School Ground in Cuttack witnessed Orissa score a 7 wicket win over Assam. Having amassed 282 in their first innings, Orissa bundled out Assam for a paltry 97. Amithav Naik (4 for 13) and DK Singh (5 for 34) shared the honours for Orissa. Following on, Assam, helped by an unbeaten 89 by Utpal Meddi, scored 222. Amithav was again amongst wickets taking five for 66. Orissa hit the required 38 runs with consumate ease.

In the other match of the day at the MBB Stadium in Agartala, Tripura and Sikkim setlled for a tame draw with Tripura gaining five points due to their first innings lead while Sikkim got three. Opting to bat on the first day Tripura scored 236 with useful contributions from opener D Dutta (50), S Banik (54) and Sukanta Paul (24) coming down the order. Sikkim in their first innings were bundled out for 174 by Chakraborthy (6 for 65) and Sukanta Paul (4 for 53).

Tripura after having taken a 62 run lead in the first innings extended it by a further 187. Opener D Choudhury (55) was the top scorer. Set a target of 248 for a win, Sikkim made a sedate start with openers TT Bhutia (13) and Bimal Singh (100 not out) adding 46 runs in 15.1 overs. Then Skipper A Sareen (11) joined Bimal to take the score on to 133 when stumps were drawn on the final day.

The North Zone league match featuring Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan meandered into a draw with Madhya Pradesh gaining five points by virtue of the first innings lead. Rajasthan who won the toss and elected to bat scored 126 with the lower order coming to their rescue. MP took a lead of 30 runs inspite of M Khatri scalping 6 for 38.

On the final day, Rajasthan in their second innings, fared much better scoring 252 runs. Deshpandey (57) and skipper Aayush Agarwal (53) giving the needed prop up for the Rajasthan.