Akash Deep’s five wickets helped Bengal dominate against Madhya Pradesh
Fast bowler Akash Deep’s five-wicket haul helped Bengal dominate the Ranji Trophy semi-final match by dismissing defending champions Madhya Pradesh’s first innings cheaply on the third day of the match on Friday. Akash Deep’s five wickets for 42 runs reduced Madhya Pradesh’s first innings to just 170 runs. Saransh Jain top-scored for Madhya Pradesh with 65 runs. Akash Deep, who was impressive in the quarter-final clash against Jharkhand, sealed the match for Bengal by trapping Kumar Karthikeya lbw after pulling Saransh’s off-stump in successive balls.
He took his fourth first-class five-wicket haul with the wicket of Avesh Khan. Bengal took a lead of 268 runs in the first innings but captain Manoj Tiwary decided not to follow on. Bengal has scored 59 runs for two wickets in the second innings, due to which its total lead has increased to 327 runs. Two-time champions Bengal last qualified for the final in 2020. The team last won the title in 1989–90. At stumps, the pair of first innings century-scorers Sudeep Gharami (12) and Anustup Majumdar (9) were present at the crease. Openers Abhimanyu Easwaran (19) and Karan Lal (17) are the batsmen to be dismissed. Earlier, Madhya Pradesh started the day at 56 for two but night watchman Anubhav Agarwal was dismissed by Mukesh Kumar after adding just two runs. At the other end, Akash Deep bowled Rajat Patidar without opening the account, while left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed dismissed captain Aditya Srivastava (seven). Half of the Madhya Pradesh team had returned to the pavilion for 89 runs. Venkatesh Iyer counter-attacked and hit Akash Deep for a six, but he became Shahbaz’s second victim. Saransh and Shubham Sharma (44 not out) then shared a 54-run partnership to bring Bengal back into the match, but the team’s innings faltered as soon as it broke.
