Bengal overcome Sikkim by three wickets

Bengal scraped past minnows Sikkim by three wickets on Friday in the Under 22 East Zone tournament played at Rangpo, Sikkim. Three days of good bowling performances by both teams saw 37 wickets fall.

Electing to bat on winning the toss, Sikkim slumped to 189 all out in 66 overs as K Bajpayee demolished their batting by picking 6/83. The notable performance with the bat came very low in the order from Viswanath, who played a dashing little cameo of 39 in 28 balls, smashing the ball for three sixes and three fours. After a good show in the field, the Bengal batting looked shaky as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Avinash Rai destroyed the second half of the Bengal batting picking up the last five wickets to finish with 5/50. Rai's brilliance meant that Bengal were bowled out for 177 in the 60th over, conceding Sikkim a 12-run first innings lead. Ranbir Nath 38 (4 fours, 1 six) top scored for Bengal.

Batting for a second time, the Sikkim batting was ripped apart by Dharmedra Singh (6/25) and K Bajpayee (2/20) and were bowled out for a paltry 94 in 42.1 overs. Requiring 107 to win, Bengal made heavy weather of the task by losing wickets at regular intervals. Manoj Shah (38 from 39 balls) and S Ganguly (24 off 41 balls) were the batsmen to make some useful contributions. In the end, Bengal crossed the mark and made 109 losing seven wickets in the process. Bengal took home eight points to Sikkim's none.