Vijay Hazare Trophy: Patidar guides Madhya Pradesh to win over Bengal but side falls short of knockout stage

Vijay Hazare Trophy: Patidar guides Madhya Pradesh to win over Bengal but side falls short of knockout stage

Captain Rajat Patidar dished out a lesson in the art of chasing with an unbeaten 132 (137b, 8×4, 1×6) to help Madhya Pradesh record a six-wicket win against Bengal in the Group E final round match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.

However, Bengal with 18 points and group-topper Baroda (20) qualified for the knockout phase.

Chasing 270, MP was off to a dismal start with India pacer Mohammed Shami forcing opener Harsh Gawali to snick an away-swinger to wicketkeeper Abishek Porel of the first ball of the innings.

In the next over, left-arm pacer Kanishk Seth induced another edge from Himanshu Mantri to leave the team in a spot of bother in 1.4 overs.

But that joy proved short-lived as Shubham Sharma (99, 104b, 10×4, 1×6) and Patidar put on a match-winning stand of 185 for the third wicket which pushed Bengal onto the backfoot.

Shubham hit two boundaries and ran two runs off pacer Sayan Ghosh to move to 99. However, having to endure cramps, he soon holed out straight to the fielder at cover in the same over, missing a thoroughly deserving century.

With MP out of the race for a knock-out berth, Patidar opted not to celebrate his hundred but stayed till the end to guide MP to an emphatic win.

Earlier, Bengal captain and opener Sudip Kumar Gharami missed out on his second consecutive century (99, 125b, 6×4, 3×6) when he dragged one onto the stumps off pacer Avesh Khan while playing a hesitant cut.

But his 92-run stand with Sudip Chatterjee (47, 57b, 4×4) which was cut short by the latter’s run-out, and a breezy knock by Mohammed Shami (42 n.o., 34b, 5×4, 1×6) helped Bengal post what looked a challenging score but was not the case.