Haryana finishes strong to enter the final

Haryana clinched their place in the Cooch Behar Trophy final thanks to the huge first innings lead they had over Bengal in the semi final at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Pune. On Monday Haryana declared at their overnight score of 615/4 giving themselves the lead of 547 runs and a full day to bowl out Bengal.

Bengal who were dismissed for a paltry 68 in the first dig didn't start any better in the second, losing two wickets to N Agarwal with just six on the board. Soon A Mishra removed Arindam das for 8 reducing Bengal to 26/3 in the 13th over of the day. Haryana had their sights on an early outright victory but Bengal batsmen had other ideas. There followed a 94 run partnership between Manavandra Yadav and A Sarkar that came to an end with Sarkar's runout for 34 in the 53rd over. Yadav was the next to be dismissed for 79 falling to D Joon in the 62nd over leaving Bengal at 152/5. Yadav's vigil at the crease lasted 165 balls and included 11 boundaries and a six. In the very next over Jhunjhunwala was dismissed by Ishan Ganda pushin Bengal to a miserable 154/6. A 59 run partnership between by R Jaiswal and S Lahiri who made 29 each. Bengal were 213 for 7 at the fall of Jaiswal who was caught and bowled by Agarwal. At 227 Bengal lost S Lahiri to the bowling of J Sharma in the 86th over. Agarwal dismissed G Sharma for 18 in the 92nd over of the day leaving the last pair of S Ali and S Akthar to survive the last 15 balls of the match, which they did admirably. Bengal were 240/9 at the close of play. Though the match came to end as a draw, Haryana can go into the final against Madhya Pradesh feeling stronger. N Agarwal was again successful with the ball picking up four wickets in the Bengal second innings.