KOLKATA: Bengal suffered a massive setback ahead of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals as they went down to Odisha by seven wickets in their Elite Group 'A' match at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
Having already made the knockouts before their last league match, Bengal were looking to iron out the flaws in this inconsequential game and get ready for the bigger challenge ahead. But instead they ended up on the losing side for the first time this Ranji season and with plenty of questions to answer.
Bengal were hit hard during the two morning sessions of Day III and IV where they lost seven and six wickets respectively. While on Day III, the hosts, resuming at overnight score of 39 for two, were bowled out for a mere 100, the next morning, they were bowled out for 276 after resuming at a healthy-looking 220 for three after being asked to follow on.
A target of 112 runs, with two sessions of play left, was not a tall ask and Odisha romped home to their only victory in this Ranji season with ease, losing just three wickets some 45 minutes after the lunch interval.
Coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla accepted it was a poor show by his boys. "At the end of the day, we played badly," he said later.
The Bengal first innings lasted just 35 overs, with opener Abhimanyu Easwaran being the highest run-getter with 27. The opener was once among runs in the second innings, hitting 101, his third ton this season, with Sudip Gharami (50) and Manoj Tiwary (52) getting half-centuries. It was because of the contributions of these three batters that at stumps on Day III, it seemed Bengal would save the match. But another batting collapse on the fourth day morning poured water on that.
Brief scores: Odisha 265 & 112/3 in 22.2 ovs (Anurag Sarangi 37, Sandeep Pattnaik 28 n.o.) Bengal 100 & 276 in 79 ovs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 101, Sudip Gharami 50, Manoj Tiwary 52; Sunil Roul 6/96) . Odisha won by 7 wickets.
Quarterfinals line-up (from Jan 31): Bengal (A1) v Jharkhand (C2); Saurashtra (B1) v Punjab (D2); Karnataka (C1) v Uttarakhand (A2); Madhya Pradesh (D1) v Andhra (B2)
