KOLKATA: The Bengal bowlers were taken to the cleaners as Maharashtra thrashed them by eight wickets in their opening match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 meet at Mohali on Monday.
Fresh from leading the India side to its maiden Asian Games gold medal, Ruturaj Gaikwad was at his belligerent best, hammering 82 off just 40 balls to give his side a flying start after Maharashtra bowlers restricted Bengal to 158 for six.
Gaikwad was involved in a 56-run opening wicket stand with Arshin Kulkarni and then a 63-run partnership with skipper Kedar Jadav to take the match away from Bengal.
The bowlers, who were the vital cog of Bengal’s domestic campaign in recent past, had no answer to Gaikwad’s onslaught who hit five sixes and nine fours before left-arm spinner Pradipta Pramanik had him caught by Karan Lal in his second over.
But skipper Jadav ensured there were no further hiccups as he stayed there till the end to guide his side home in 16.2 overs losing just two wickets. Jadav stayed undefeated on 40 that came off 26 balls with the help of two fours and two sixes.
Earlier Bengal, put into bat, suffered an early jolt as they lost opener Abhimanyu Easwaran in the first ball of the match.
However, Sudip Ghaami, leading senior Bengal for the first time, and Abhishek Porel steadied the innings with a 55-run second-wicket stand. It was Kulkarni who struck hard, picking up Shahbaz Ahmed (11) and Gharami (44) in the same over (10th of the innings) after Porel departed for 15 runs.
Ranjot Singh Kharia played a quickfire unbeaten 31-ball 49-run innings that lifted the Bengal innings.
Brief scores: Bengal 158/6 in 20 ovs (S Gharami 44, R Kharai 49*; A Kulkarni 2-22) Maharashtra 159/2 in 16.2 ovs (R Gaikwad 82, K Jadhav 40*; P Pramanik 1-29). Maharashtra won by 8 wkts.
