Dominant Bengal oust champions MP, set up Ranji final against Saurashtra at Eden

Riding on a dominant all-round performance, Bengal stormed into the Ranji Trophy final, ousting defending champions Madhya Pradesh by 306 runs at the Holkar Stadium here on Sunday.

Bengal, who last won the Ranji title in the 1989-90 season, will face Saurashtra, who beat Karnataka by four wickets in the other semi-final.

Bengal will host the final against Saurashtra, by virtue of having secured more points than its fellow finalist in the group stage in a repeat of the 2020 final.

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The star of the semi-final for Bengal was Akash Deep, who wrecked the home side with his six wickets to take the team to their second Ranji final appearance in three seasons.

Anustup Majumdar and Sudip Kumar Gharami also contributed heavily, scoring 200 and 153 runs respectively in the first innings that took Bengal to a massive 438.

Pradipta Pramanik also impressed with his all-round skills, scoring an unbeaten 60, followed by a superb five-wicket haul in the second innings.

Earlier, on the fifth and final day of the semi-final clash, Bengal posted 279 in their second innings, thereby setting a mammoth 548-run target for the reigning champions.

Chasing a big score, Madhya Pradesh got off to a positive start, thanks to openers Yash Dubey (30) and Himanshu Mantri (16). But Shahbaz Ahmed and Akash Deep got rid of the openers to reduce the home side to 67/2.

Rajat Patidar (52) and Shubham Sharma (24) played sensibly to score some handy runs but the target was too big to chase on a final day pitch.

Young left-arm spinner Pramanik did not let the batters settle down as he dismissed Shubham and incoming batter Venkatesh Iyer (19) while Mukesh Kumar got rid of Patidar to have half their side back in the hut at 179/5.

Thereafter, Pramanik also sent Kumar Kartikeya (6), Avesh Khan (0) and Gaurav Yadav (0) packing to bag a superb five-wicket haul and send his team into the final.

Playing on home turf, Bengal will look to avenge their loss in the 2020 final when they lost to Saurashtra on first-innings lead at Rajkot.

"It's still a long way to go, we have not yet achieved anything great to celebrate. I can only say the boys are playing well and captain Manoj Tiwary is leading from the front," said Bengal head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla.

"The atmosphere is really good in the dressing room. The players are playing hard and backing each other. Of course the team is happy on reaching the final. But they are focussed. Winning the Ranji Trophy is a great motivation and flying the CAB (Cricket Association of Bengal) flag high is something each and every one of us wants to do,” Tiwary said.

Brief Scores:

Bengal 438 and 279 in 119.4 overs. Madhya Pradesh 170 and 241 in 39.5 overs (Rajat Patidar 52; Pradipta Pramanik 5/51, Mukesh Kumar 2/35). Bengal won by 306 runs.