Pradipta Pramanik's five-for takes Bengal to Ranji Trophy final

Akash Deep picked up four wickets in the Jharkhand first innings

February 12, 2023

Bengal 438 (Majumdar 120, Gharami 112, Kartikeya 3-95) and 279 (Majumdar 80, Pramanik 60*, Jain 6-103, Kartikeya 3-63) beat Madhya Pradesh 170 (Jain 65, Shubham 44, Akash Deep 5-42) and 241 (Patidar 52, Pramanik 5-51) by 306 runs

Bengal avenged last season's semi-final loss to Madhya Pradesh in style as they beat the defending champions by 306 runs in Indore to book a place in the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy final. This is the 15th time that the two-time Ranji Trophy winners have made it to the final.

Bengal had more or less batted MP out of the game, having set them a target of 548 when No. 11 Ishan Porel fell on the fourth ball of the last day. Chasing down such a big total in one day was always an improbable ask, and even if MP were to bat out the whole day for a draw, Bengal would still reach the final having taken a first-innings lead.

Left-arm spinner Pradipta Pramanik returned figures of 5 for 51 as MP were bundled out for 241 in 39.4 overs shortly after lunch. Bengal, who last won the Ranji title back in 1989-90, will now face Saurashtra in the final on February 16 in a repeat of the 2019-20 final. Saurashtra got the better of Karnataka in the other semi-final in Bengaluru.

MP knew they had to come out all guns blazing. Yash Dubey got a few boundaries away early but lost his partner Himanshu Mantri to Shahbaz Ahmed for 16. Akash Deep then took out Dubey before Pramanik got among the wickets by knocking over Shubham Sharma's stumps for 24.

Venkatesh Iyer hit a four and a six in his 23-ball 19 and added 43 runs with Rajat Patidar for the fourth wicket in 40 balls, but he was also cleaned up by Pramanik. Patidar was MP's top-scorer in the second innings scoring 52 off 58 balls with the help of four sixes and two fours. He also stitched a 54-run stand off 52 balls with captain Aditya Shrivastava, but once Patidar fell to Mukesh Kumar, the result was inevitable.

Anubhav Agarwal smoked 30 off 12 balls, which included hitting offspinner Karan Lal for four sixes in an over, before Pramanik ended the game with the wicket of Gaurav Yadav, also completing his second five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.

Akash was named Player of the Match for his match haul of 6 for 60.

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