Win keeps Bengal alive in Vijay Hazare

KOLKATA: It's difficult to keep Manoj Tiwary away from action. If not with the bat, the former Bengal skipper came good with the ball claiming three for 26 in five overs to help his side bowl out Railways for 191 thereby recording a 57-run victory in a Group 'E' match at the JSCA stadium in Ranchi on Saturday. Bengal's second consecutive win saw them stay alive in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-over) tournament, lying second in the group with 12 points from five games.They now need to beat Services in their last match on Monday and hope the other results go their way to make the knockout round.
Bengal failed to capitalise on a good start after their openers Sudip Gharami and Abhimanyu Easwaran put up a 71-run opening wicket stand in 14 overs on being put into bat by the rivals. Bengal skipper Easwaran got runs for the first time in this tournament this year as he hit a polished half-century off 59 deliveries. However, Bengal lost experienced Anustup Majumder and Tiwary along with the two openers to tumble to 117 for four within the next 10 overs. It was young wicketkeeper-batter Abhishek Porel who rose to the occasion to take Bengal to a position of strength being involved in a 56-run seventh-wicket stand with Writtick Chatterjee after dependable Shahbaz Ahmed too departed early (7). Chatterjee's useful unbeaten 37-run innings helped the side finish at 248 for nine in their allotted 50 overs.
The Bengal bowlers did not allow Railways to build-up any meaningful partnership and struck at almost regular intervals. Tiwary struck in his first two overs to finally end up as the most successful Bengal bowler. Left-arm pacer Geet Puri and left-arm spinner Shahbz claimed two wickets each to wrap up the Railways innings in 43.2 overs only.
Brief scores: Bengal 248/9 in 50 ovs (Abhishek Porel 54, Abhimanyu Easwaran 50, Writtick Chatterjee 37*; Dhrushant Soni 3/44, Karn Sharma 3/44) Railways 191 in 43.2 ovs (Upendra Yadav 39; Manoj Tiwary 3/26, Geet Puri 2/36). Bengal won by 57 runs.