Pune: Navdeep Saini and Kulwant Khejroliya wreaked havoc with the ball as Delhi decimated Bengal by an innings and 26 runs in Pune on Tuesday to make it to the final of the Ranji Trophy.
Saini and Khejroliya starred with the ball for Delhi as none of the Bengal batsmen could show any resistance. Just like the first innings, Sudip Chatterjee top-scored for Bengal but this time, the left-hander could only muster 21 runs as the entire batting fell apart completely. Skipper Manoj Tiwary also failed to make more than 14 runs as none of the batsmen stepped up and fought for the team.
Vikas Tokas also got one wicket as Bengal were eventually skittled out for just 86 runs in their second innings.
Earlier in the day, it was Mohammad Shami who didn’t let the Delhi batting unit inflict more damage as he scalped a total of six wickets conceding 122 runs. Ashoke Dinda was the second best bowler with two wickets for 125 runs as Delhi were bowled out for 398 runs in their first innings.
In the other semi-final, Vidarbha fought back through Rajneesh Gurbani (5/94) and Umesh Yadav (4/73) to dismiss Karnataka for 301 at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
Courtesy Ganesh Satish’s 71, Vidarbha now at 195/4 have a lead of 79 runs.
Brief scores-
Pune: Bengal 286 all out and 86 all out (Sudip Chatterjee 21 n.o, Shreevats Goswami 17; Navdeep Saini 3/35) lost to Delhi 398 (Gautam Gambhir 127, Kunal Chandela 113; Mohammad Shami 6/122) by an innings and 26 runs
Kolkata: Vidarbha 185 all out and 195/4 (Ganesh Satish 71, Apoorv Wankhade 49; Srinath Aravind 2/41) trail Karnataka 301 all out (Karun Nair 153, CM Gautam 73; Rajneesh Gurbani 5/94) by 79 runs