Ranji Trophy: Saurashtra prevail over batting wobble to set up final clash with Bengal

Riding on a dominant allround performance Bengal stormed into the Ranji Trophy final ousting defending champions Madhya Pradesh by 306 runs at the Holkar Stadium here on SundayBengal who last won the Ranji title in the 198990 season will face Saurashtra who beat Karnataka by four wickets in the other semifinalBengal 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 finalThe star of the semifinal 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 seasonsAlso Read Ranji Trophy Saurashtra Bengal inch closer to finalAnustup Majumdar and Sudip Kumar Gharami also contributed heavily scoring 200 and 153 runs respectively in the first innings that took Bengal to a massive 438Pradipta Pramanik also impressed with his allround skills scoring an unbeaten 60 followed by a superb fivewicket haul in the second inningsEarlier on the fifth and final day of the semifinal clash Bengal posted 279 in their second innings thereby setting a mammoth 548run target for the reigning championsChasing 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 672Rajat 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 pitchYoung leftarm 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 1795Thereafter Pramanik also sent Kumar Kartikeya 6 Avesh Khan 0 and Gaurav Yadav 0 packing to bag a superb fivewicket haul and send his team into the finalPlaying on home turf Bengal will look to avenge their loss in the 2020 final when they lost to Saurashtra on firstinnings lead at RajkotIts 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 ShuklaThe 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 doiquest Tiwary saidBrief ScoresBengal 438 and 279 in 1194 overs Madhya Pradesh 170 and 241 in 395 overs Rajat Patidar 52 Pradipta Pramanik 551 Mukesh Kumar 235 Bengal won by 306 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever