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Cuttack, March 27: Star-studded Bengal suffered yet another defeat when they lost to Jharkhand by three wickets in the East Zone qualifiers of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here Friday.
Electing to field first, after winning the toss, Jharkhand bowlers did a grand job by restricting Bengal to a score of 136 for seven wickets. None of Bengal openers showed their maturity and Bengal lost their first four wickets for only 36 runs including that of skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla.
Manoj Tiwary (28, 36b, 2×4) and Debabrata Das (61, 33b, 7×4, 3×6) steadied the ship somewhat putting on 59 runs for the fifth wicket. However, once Tiwary was castled by Shahbaz Nadeem (2/30), the Bengal innings folded quickly. Wriddhiman Saha once more came a cropper with the bat scoring only two.
In reply, Jharkhand openers Ishan Kishan (30, 37b, 4×4) and Saurabh Tiwary (29, 19b, 4×4, 1×6) put on 63 for the first wicket to give their side a solid start. Kaushal Singh 42 n o, 29b, 4×4, 2×6) then put the finishing touches.
Brief scores:
Bengal 136 for 8 (Debabrata Das 61) lost to Jharkhand 139 for 7 (Kaushal Singh 42 n o, LR Shukla 3/15) by three wickets.
Tripura open account
In another tie at the same venue, Tripura secured their first win in the event defeating Assam by six wickets. Yogesh Takawale (68 n o, 49b, 6×4, 2×6) batted brilliantly as Tripura overhauled Assam’s score of 172 for eight with five balls to spare. Takawale was well supported by Sanjoy Majumdar (39, 32b, 2×4, 2×6).
Earlier, Sibsankar Ray (46, 36b, 4×4, 1×6) and Pallav Das (36, 26b, 3×4, 2×6) batted well for Assam. Left-arm spinner Tushar Das (3/23) did well to restrict Assam.
Brief scores
Assam 172 for eight wickets (Sibsankar Roy 46, Pallav Kumar Das 36; Tushar Saha 3/23, Ajoy sarkar 2/29) lost to Tripura 175 for four wickets (Yogesh Takawale 68, Sanjoy Mazumdar 39, Udiyan Bose 30; Pritam Das 2/43) by six wickets.
