Bengal beat Orissa by eight wickets

The bowling exploits of Shib Sagar Singh continues as he helped Bengal beat Orissa by eight wickets at Baharampur Stadium, Baharampur in the Under-22 Tournament between Bengal and Orissa on Thursday.

On Tuesday Bengal won the toss and asked Orissa to have a bat first. Orissa were 100/3 when Singh started to strike, picking up five wickets in a row to bowl them out for 140 in 55.4 overs. RR Das with 48 top-scored for Orissa as Singh returned with the figures of 14-4-32-5. Arindam Das who opened for Bengal made a superb 85, which included 13 fours guided Bengal to a 100 run lead. There were notable contributions from RR Nath (40) and D Chakrabarty (32) as Bengal were all out for 240 in 89.1 overs. Saurav Sehgal was impressive with the ball picking up 6/62 in 32 overs as three batsmen were run out in the innings. Orissa were helped along by a 86 runs fourth wicket partnership between Das and N Behera. Das who had excelled in the first innings came good in the second too, scoring 73 runs, hitting one six and seven boundaries. Behera made 36 that included 5 boundaries. S Mohanty played a little cameo of 36 low in the order smashing two sixes and three fours. Shib Sagar Singh picked up three more wickets for 47 runs. Orissa were bowled out for 196 in 90.3 overs leaving Bengal to make 97 to win. Bengal started badly losing two wickets with just 31 on the board but were guided past their target by Arindam Das and Ranabir Nath as they added 61 runs for the unbeaten third wicket partnership. Arindam Das was severe on the bowlers smashing three sixes and four boundaries as he reached his fifty in 48 balls to remain unbeaten on 51 at the close of play. Nath made 35 in 32 balls hitting a six and five boundaries. Bengal took all eight points to Orissa's none.