Kolkata, (UNI) Mumbai defeated Bengal by an innings and 4 runs in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
As most of the Bengal batsmen found the going tough, Abishek Porel stood tall with a fine 82 off 83 balls, but his fighting knock was not enough as Bengal went down to Mumbai in the crucial Ranji Trophy play.
Following on, Bengal were bowled out for 209 on the third and penultimate day after their 199 in their first innings.
Earlier, Mumbai posted a challenging 412 in their first innings.
Mohit Avasthi (3-63, 7-52) was the star bowler for Mumbai bagging a 10-wicket haul in the match.
After their first loss of the season, Bengal currently have 12 points from five games so far. On the other hand, Mumbai, with four wins from the campaign, is on top of the points table with 27 points.
“We are disappointed after this loss. We as a team didn’t perform well, especially in the batting department. But we still have two games to play. We will come back stronger against Kerala in our next match (February 9),” Bengal head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla said after the match.
Earlier, asked to follow on with 213 runs behind, Bengal got off to a cautious start.
But the visitors got the much-needed breakthrough dismissing Sourav Paul (24), followed by Shreyansh Ghosh (5) to reduce Bengal to 44/2 inside 10 overs.
Sudip Kumar Gharami (20) got off to a good start with four boundaries, but his stay at the crease was short-lived.
Centurion from the first innings, Anustup Majumdar (14) was cleaned up by Mohit to put the home side in trouble at 74/4.
From there on, Abishek and skipper Manoj Tiwary (26) added vital 52 runs for the fifth wicket to take the team past the 100-run mark.
After a measured 79-ball innings, the Bengal skipper departed too, putting the hosts in a spot of bother at 126/5.
Running out of partners, Abishek went on attacking mode to pile on some quick runs and reduce the deficit.
En route to his knock, the left-handed batsman smashed 15 boundaries.
After his dismissal, it was too tall a task for the Bengal tailenders as they fell in quick time to hand the match to the visitors.
