Gharami hits unbeaten ton as Bengal enter knockouts

Kolkata: Skipper Sudip Gharami led from the front with an unbeaten century to help Bengal beat Bihar by six wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group ‘E' match at the Gymkhana ground in Hyderabad on Friday. With 18 points from five matches, Bengal ensured a knockout berth with a match in hand at the league stage.For the first time this season Bengal got the service of Mukesh Kumar and Mohammed Shami together and perhaps that prompted Gharami to opt to field on winning the toss. However, both the pacers failed to make significant contributions as Bihar opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi gave the side a brisk start hitting Mukesh for two sixes. However, Shami, making a comeback after four matches, had the 13-year-old player edging to wicketkeeper Abhishek Porel for his only wicket of the match.Bihar kept losing wickets at regular intervals to be reduced to 90 for four by the 23rd over. A 62-run fifth-wicket stand between Piyush Kumar Singh (89, 112b, 9x4) and Bipin Saurabh (34, 44b, 3x4, 1x6) saw them get past 200 runs. But the Bengal bowlers kept things tight to finally bowl the rivals out for 235 in 49 overs. Spinners Pradipta Pramanik and Karan Lal returned with three and two wickets each, respectively.Gharami and Porel were off to a smooth start putting up a 111-run opening wicket stand in 17.4 overs. Bengal lost Porel for 55 falling to leg-spinner Himanshu Singh while going for a big shot.There was a minor setback for Bengal when they lost Sudip Chatterjee — stumped by Binny — and then in-form Anustup Majumdar trapped in front for a second-ball duck in the 18th over being bowled by off-spinner Suraj Kashyap. But Gharami, who was dropped by Piyush Kumar on 17 at point in the seventh over, stayed put to take the side home in company with Lal. While Gharami stayed undefeated on 107 facing 128 balls and hitting 13 boundaries and one six, Lal gave him support to be not out on a 39-ball 37.Brief scores: Bihar 235 in 49 ovs (Piyush Kumar Singh 89, Bipin Saurabh 34, Pradipta Pramanik 3/34) Bengal 239/4 in 42.3 ovs (Abishek Porel 55, Sudip Kumar Gharami 107*, Sumanta Gupta 30, Karan Lal 37*) Bengal won by 6 wkts.