Bengal steamroll Punjab, hit their quarterfinals hopes

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 19 

Rookie medium-pacer Ishan Porel grabbed his maiden five-wicket haul as Bengal thrashed Punjab by an innings and 19 runs in their Ranji Trophy tie here today. The embarrassing loss has pushed Punjab (15 points) to the third position on the points table, behind Vidarbha (21) and Bengal (20), and their hopes of making the knockouts hang by a slender thread now.

Thanks to centuries by openers Abhishek Raman (155) and Abhimanyu Easwaran (117), Bengal declared their innings at 379/9, with a big lead of 232 runs. In their second innings, Punjab were bowled out for 213 in 56.1 overs, with former India U-19 medium pacer Porel returning figures of 5/32 in 10.1 overs. Debutant left-arm spinner Pradipta Pramanik (2/72) and all-rounder B Amit (2/32) also shared the spoils.

For the hosts, Gurkeerat Mann (57) and Anmolpreet Singh (40) were the only two batsmen to put up some resistance. 

In the last round, Punjab will take on Services while Himachal (13 points) will play group leaders Vidarbha in Nagpur. While Punjab may still sneak through — they need an outright win, with other results, too, going their way in the last round — it seems all but over for Himachal.

Ranji: Brief Scores 

• Punjab: 147 and 213 (Gurkeerat Mann 57, Anmolpreet Singh 40; Ishan Porel 5/32);  Bengal: 379/9 decl. (Abhishek Raman 155, Abhimanyu Easwaran 117) 
• Delhi: 419; Maharashtra: 99 and 259 (Rahul Tripathi 106, Navdeep Saini 4/57; Vikas Mishra 4/90)  
• Haryana: 184 161/9 (Rajat Paliwal 45; Ram Dayal 5/42) J&K: 176 (Ahmed Bandy 67; Ashish Hooda 3/38