Ranji Trophy Group D: Bengal put one foot in Ranji quarterfinals

Pace spearhead Ashok Dinda today claimed his 25th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket to hand Bengal a first innings lead over Goa, which virtually sealed their passage into the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals from Group D.

Kolkata: Pace spearhead Ashok Dinda today claimed his 25th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket to hand Bengal a first innings lead over Goa, which virtually sealed their passage into the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals from Group D.

In reply to Bengal's 379, Goa were dismissed for 310 after resuming the third day on 191 for five, as Dinda added two more to his overnight tally en route to figures of 5/79.

Left-arm seamer Kanishk Seth supported well with a careerbest 3/77, including two wickets in successive deliveries, while B Amit (2/69) cleaned up Felix Alemao to bundle out Goa in 105 overs in the second session.

Amogh Desai waged a lone battle with his unbeaten 103 off 264 balls -- his sixth first-class century, while Keenan Vaz made 60.

The duo added 110 runs for the sixth wicket to frustrate Bengal in the first session, but it was not enough.

At close on the penultimate day, Bengal were 108 for three in 25 overs with opener Abhimanyu Easwaran (20) and first innings centurion Shreevats Goswami (15) at the crease, extending the lead to 177 runs.

Unless Goa produce some sort of a miracle, Bengal would be through with 23 points. Playing Services in Amritsar, Punjab currently have 15 points inthe group.

Earlier, Desai was dropped on his overnight score of 53, but it did not prove costly as Dinda provided a breakthrough after the drinks break in the first session.

It opened the floodgates for Bengal as left-arm seamer Kanishk Seth sent back Amulya Pandrekar and Lakshay A Garg in consecutive deliveries.

Garg would consider himself unlucky as the ball seemed to have missed the edge, but the umpire thought otherwise.

A rearguard action by Desai and Heramb Parab (29), who added 52 runs for ninth wicket, raised their hopes, but Dinda once again gave the much-needed breakthrough.

Brief Scores:

Bengal 379 and 108/3; 25 overs.

Goa 310; 105 overs (Amogh Desai 103 not out, Keenan Vaz 60; Ashok Dinda 5/79, Kanishk Seth 3/77).

 

Brief Scores of other group D matches

In Amritsar: Punjab 645/6 declared.

Services 315; 71.2 overs (Vikas Yadav 71, Diwesh Pathania 68, Rahul Singh 48, Vikas Hathwala 42; MS Gony 5/63) and f/o 118/3; 35 overs (Rahul Singh 47 batting).

In Nagpur: Himachal Pradesh 353 and 70/3; 20 overs. Vidarbha 456; 134.4 overs (Faiz Fazal 206, Sanjay Ramaswamy 115, Wasim Jaffer 47; Rishi Dhawan 4/96).