KOLKATA: Another batting failure saw Bengal being knocked out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy meet, going down to Haryana by four wickets in the quarterfinals in Rajkot on Monday. Shahbaz Ahmed, who walked in to bat at 70 for 3 in the 18th over, played a lone hand hitting a century, but he did not get enough support at the other end as opener Abhishek Porel's 24 remained Bengal's second highest contribution in a total of 225 in 50 overs. Haryana reached the target on the back of Ankit Kumar's 102, losing six wickets in 45.1 overs.
The side missed Abhimanyu Easwaran as Ranjot Khaira, coming in place of Shakir Gandhi, too failed to provide a good start after Bengal were put in to bat first.
Former India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal did the maximum damage picking up four for 37 in his 10 overs. The leg-spinner got into the act in his very first over, having in-form Anushtup Majumder caught by Sumit Kumar at long-on. He then brought Haryana back in the game by breaking the 52-run seventh-wicket stand between Shahbaz and Pradipta Pramanik by getting the latter caught at point by Yuvraj Singh for 21.
Shahbaz fell trying to clear the field in the penultimate ball of the innings of Rahul Tewatia, who had Mohammed Kaif's wicket in the next delivery to finish with two for 32. All-rounder Shahbaz hit 100 facing 118 deliveries with the help of four fours and four sixes.
Bengal got the early breakthrough by reducing Haryana to 14 for two by the fifth over. But a 126-run third-wicket partnership between Ankit and skipper Ashok Menaria saw them steady things. While opener Ankit played a more aggressive role, Manaria provided him good support getting 39 off 71 balls. Ankit went on playing his shots to end with run-a-ball 102 with 12 fours and three sixes before being caught behind by Abhishek off Shahbaz.
Nishant Sindhu (27) and Tewatia (21) made useful contributions down the order to seal the match in favour of Haryana.
Brief scores: Bengal 225 in 50 ovs (Abishek Porel 24, Shahbaz Ahmed 100; Sumit Kumar 2-27, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-37, Rahul Tewatia 2-32) Haryana 226/6 in 45.1 ovs (Ankit Kumar 102, Ashok Menaria 39, Nishant Sindhu 27; Mohammad Kaif 2-44, Pradipta Pramanik 2-29). Haryana won by 4 wkts
