Bengal suffer humiliating defeat

Kolkata: Bengal's hopes of making the Ranji Trophy knockouts are now virtually over as they suffered a humiliating 283-run defeat with a day to go to Haryana in their penultimate Elite Group ‘C' league match at the Bengal Cricket Academy in Kalyani on Saturday. With 14 points from six matches, the Laxmi Ratan Shukla-coached side slipped to fourth place as Haryana consolidated their position at the top with 26 points.If Bengal's first innings batting was poor, their display in the second essay was pathetic as they crumbled to just 85 in 21.4 overs. Pacer Suraj Jaiswal was the solitary bright spot finishing with a match-haul of 11 wickets.The Bengal bowlers failed to make inroads into the Haryana second innings after conceding 32-run first-innings lead. A 128-run third-wicket stand between Himanshu Rana and Nishant Sindhu took Haryana to a position of strength. While Rana hit a 137-ball 72, Sindhu got 80 facing 92 balls. After Mohamed Kaif removed both the batters in quick succession, Jaiswal ran through the middle and lower order to end with five for 92 as the visitors' innings folded up for 236, giving Bengal a 369-run winning target.Facing an uphill task, Bengal crumbled to 26 for three at the tea interval, losing both the openers — Ankit Chatterjee (21) and Writtick Chatterjee (3) along with skipper Sudip Gharami (0). No other batter could put up any resistance as they were bowled out for their second lowest Ranji total.Brief scores: Haryana 157 & 336 in 91.2 ovs (Nishant Sindhu 80, Himanshu Rana 72; SS Jaiswal 5/92) Bengal 125 & 85 in 21.4 ovs (Wriddhiman Saha 25; Anshul Kamboj 4/35, Anuj Thakral 4/32). Haryana won by 283 runs.