Feisty Bengal have a foot in the final

Indore: The Bengal cricketers would be a happy lot after Friday’s show in their Ranji Trophy semifinals against Madhya Pradesh in Indore. Having bowled the hosts out for 170 in the first innings, Bengal rode a 268-run cushion going into the second innings. By day end, that had swelled to 327. Even though they lost both openers Abhimanyu Easwaran and Karan Lal while accumulating 59, Manoj Tiwary’s side would not be much worried. And when Bengal come out to resume their innings on Saturday, heroes of the first essay Anustup Majumdar and Sudip Gharami would be there to lead the charge. Both are unbeaten overnight and are carrying the confidence of centuries in this game.Bengal’s star on Friday was medium-pacer Akash Deep, who grabbed the fourth five-wicket haul of his first class career. His scalps included overnight unbeaten batter Saransh Jain, the experienced Rajat Patidar and Kumar Kartikeya. Spinner Shabaz Ahmed chipped with two crucial wickets in skipper Aditya Shrivastava and Venkatesh Iyer. With the bowlers complementing the batters’ efforts, coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla would be proud of the all-round show.For Madhya Pradesh, Jain top-scored with 65 and Shubham Sharma contributed a useful unbeaten 44 down the order. Apart from these two, none of the other Madhya Pradesh batters could reach double figures on Friday. The only partnership of note was a 54-run sixth-wicket stand between Jain and Sharma. The fact that Madhya Pradesh crawled to 170 in 79 overs highlighted their struggles against the Bengal attack.Bengal will look to consolidate their position on Saturday and bat themselves to safety before mulling a declaration. With two days of play remaining, there is enough time to bowl Madhya Pradesh out again. An outright win would be the perfect prelude to the final.Brief scores: Bengal 438 all out and 59 for 2 in 29 overs (K Kartikeya 1/16) vs Madhya Pradesh 170 all out (Saransh Jain 65; Akash Deep 5/42, Shahbaz Ahmed 2/30). Bengal lead by 327 runs.