Bengal fighting hard to save outright defeat against MP.
Favourites Mumbai on Saturday inflicted a crushing 395-run defeat on Jharkhand to enter the semi-finals of the Raji Trophy cricket tournament with left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah and part-time off-spinner Jay Bista helping themselves to five-wicket hauls.
Mumbai are set to meet Madhya Pradesh in the semi-final, who will be completing the formalities against Bengal on the final day on Sunday. Needing a near impossible 490 runs to win, Jharkhand were shot out for 94 in only 42.4 overs after starting the fourth day at 28 for one.
The day's play didn't even last a full session as it required 29.4 overs for Abdullah (5/35 in 16 overs) and Bista (5/16 in 6.4 overs) to win it for the 40-time champions, who are looking all set to make it 41 this time round.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 416 and 245.
Jharkhand 172 & (target 490) 94 (Jay Bista 5/16, Iqbal Abdullah 5/35).
Harpreet Singh Bhatia slammed his second first-class ton to lead the Madhya Pradesh run-spree in the second innings and set Bengal an improbable 788 runs for a win in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinals in Mumbai on Saturday. The 24-year-old Bhatia notched up 139 in 206 balls, studded with 14 fours, to help MP pile on runs after resuming on overnight score of 338 for five.
MP finally declared at a mammoth second-innings total of 560 for 9, just before tea on the fourth and penultimate day. Bengal, who conceded a huge first-innings lead of 227 after being bowled out for a meagre 121, are on the verge of a defeat as they were struggling at 113 for three in 31 overs at the close of play. Their most experienced batsmen -- captain Manoj Tiwary (32) and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha (6) -- were at the crease.
The batsmen out were first innings top-scorer Abhimanyu Easwaran (16), who top-edged a pull and was caught at square leg off MP pace spearhead Ishwar Pandey, his opening partner Sayan Mondal (39 off 86 balls) and Sudeep Chatterjee (16).
It will need a monumental effort on Sunday from Tiwary and Saha if Bengal are to avoid an outright defeat. MP were already ahead of Bengal by a huge 565 runs and decided to deny Bengal even the slightest chance of a comeback by continuing to bat resolutely.
Bhatia and Dane, who were on 18 and 14 last evening, added 149 runs for the sixth wicket before the latter was dismissed by part-time spinner Easwaran for 69 off 104 balls. At lunch, Bhatia was six short of his hundred and completed it soon after the break, but MP showed no signs of declaring their innings till they lost their ninth wicket with 10 minutes left for tea.
Bhatia finally departed after a stay of 314 minutes, giving left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha his second wicket of the innings.
Brief scores:
Madhya Pradesh: 348 & 560 for nine decl (R Patidar 137, D Bundela 72, Harpreet Bhatia 139; A Dinda 2/92, Veerpratap Singh 2/for 94).
Bengal: 121 & 113 for three (S Mondal 39, M Tiwary 32 not out).
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