Jharkhand skipper MS Dhoni’s breathtaking knock of 70 from 62 balls was not enough to take his team over the line as Bengal put up a spirited display to beat Jharkhand by 41 runs and enter the Vijay Hazare final in New Delhi on Saturday.
Bengal will meet Tamil Nadu in the final, against whom they had lost in the summit event in 2009 and 2010.
Batting first, Bengal scored a formidable 329/4, aided by sparkling hundreds from Abhimanyu Easwaran (101) and Shreevats Goswami (101). Skipper Manoj Tiwary’s breezy 75 took Bengal past the 300-run mark.
Dhoni slammed four sixes during his knock and received good support from Ishank Jaggi (59 from 43) at the other end.
Pragyan Ojha (5/71), despite going for plenty from Dhoni and Jaggi’s blades, swung the game back to Bengal’s favour with a delivery that spun away from the former India captain, which clipped his off stump.
Sayan Ghosh dismissed Jaggi and Ojha ran through the Jharkhand tail. Easwaran and Goswami amassed a 198-run opening stand before Tiwary’s blitzkrieg in the death overs, scoring his 75 runs from just 49 balls, and putting Bengal in the driver’s seat.
Brief score:
- Bengal 329/4 in 50 overs (Sreevats Goswami 101, Abhimanyu Easwaran 101, Manoj Tiwary 75; Varun Aaron 2/89) beat Jharkhand 288 in 50 overs (MS Dhoni 70, Ishank Jaggi 59; Pragyan Ojha 5/71) by 41 runs