Kolkata, Disciplined bowling and batting earned Bengal a crucial win over two-time champions Karnataka with a 7 wickets victory and elevated Sudip Chatterjee's side into the pole position in Group B of the Syed Mustaq Ali T 20 championship in Guwahati on Tuesday.
Electing to bat Karnataka scored 134 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 allotted overs.
Bengal pace spearhead Mukesh Kumar took 3/33 and spinner Pradipta Pramanik also
conceded 33 runs for two scalps.
In reply Bengal made 138 for the loss of 3 wickets, thanks to an unbeaten 4th wicket 50-run partnership between Abhimanyu Easwaran (51) and Kaif Ahmed (34). Wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha also contributed 27 valuable runs to help Bengal a vital win over cricket
powerhouse Karnataka.
For Karnataka skipper Manish Pandey made 32 and Karun Nair was out at 44.
Bengal were now taking the pole position in table with 16 points from five games, as many
as Karnataka. Mumbai were in third position with 12 points.
Sudip Chatterjee in the post match scenario said, " Mumbai won earlier today and to qualify
we had to win this match. We were focused about that only, we were determined, played good
cricket and we are doing well as a team which we wanna continue."
Earlier in the day Mumbai beat Baroda.
" Excellent bowling display by our bowlers. Mukesh's two wickets in the first overs helped us
put pressure on a strong Karnataka side and Shahbaz, Pradipta took wickets at crucial times
to restrict the run flow. A very good display by the team led by the bowlers. It's always good to
see Abhimanyu scoring well for Bengal, he's an asset to the team." the Bengal skipper said.