Ashok Dinda's seven wicket special bowls out Odisha for 37

Ashok Dinda once again turned out to be the force to reckon with, as the Bengal pacer shot down Odisha to win their Ranji tie. Twenty wickets fell on the second consecutive day at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground in Kalyani, near Kolkata, on Tuesday (November 24), as Odisha, chasing 171, were bundled out for 37 in just 19.2 overs in their second innings.

Bengal could score just 142 in their first innings as Dhiraj Singh dismissed five batsmen against 58 runs, opener Abhimanyu Easwaran was the top scorer with 88. Coming in to bowl their spinners came hard on the first day, Aamir Gani was the pick of the bowlers and grabbed 6 wickets in Odisha’s first innings to reduce them to a 107.

The second innings was once again a short one for the home team as Basant Mohanty got a fifer to bowl Bengal out for 135 and with that they set Odisha a target of 171 to win this low scoring match.

Ashok Dinda was the destroyer in chief in second innings, as he scalped 7 for 19 to give Bengal a dramatic 133-run win in a game that lasted under five sessions. With six points in the kitty from the game, Bengal took their overall tally to 25 from seven games and it gives them a shot in their arms for qualifying for the knock-out stages from Group A.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha picked up 3 vital wickets in the second innings and 5 in the match to secure an easy win for his new team. For Odisha, it was Basanth Mohanty, who picked up five wickets for 16 runs in 17 overs. Abhimanyu Easwaran top scored for Bengal with 39, while skipper Manoj Tiwary chipped in with 35 in the second innings. Aamir Gani was also instrumental for Bengal, as he picked up 6 wickets for 34 in the first innings. At one stage, Odisha looked to ‘better’ their previous record of 35 all out against Bihar in 1958-59.

Brief Scores:

• Bengal 142 & 135 (Easwaran 39,Mohanty 5/16)
• Odisha 107 & 37 (Behera 7*, Dinda 7/19)