Rajkot: Mohammed Shami got two wickets on his return to competitive cricket after nearly nine months but Uttar Pradesh (UP) comfortably beat Bengal by four wickets in a group D league match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, here on Sunday.
Batting first, Bengal managed a modest 221 in 48.3 overs with only Sudip Chatterjee playing well for his 97. In reply, UP always had the game under control as they reached the target in 46.4 overs. Openers Umang Sharma (73) and Prashant Gupta (47) added 88 runs while No 3 Ekalavya Dwivedi contributed 45 with three towering sixes.
Sharing the new ball with Ashok Dinda, Shami's figures were 10-0-52-2 as he bowled both Umang and Ekalavya.
This is Bengal's second successive loss after being beaten by Himachal Pradesh in the earlier game. They have beaten Goa in the first game.
Put into bat, it was only Sudip (114 balls,9x4), who looked in good touch as in-form players like Sayan Sekhar Mondal (15), Shreevtas Goswami (3), Manoj Tiwary (1) and Wriddhiman Saha (16) got out cheaply.
The only notable stand for Bengal was 69 runs for the fifth wicket stand between Sudip and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (32).
For UP, Mohammed Javed picked up 4/40 while Bhuvneshwar Kumar had 2/22.
Brief Scores: Bengal 221 in 48.3 overs (Sudip Chatterjee 97, Mohammed Javed 4/40, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/22) UP 222/6 in 46.4 (Umang Sharma 73, Prashant Gupta 47, Ekalavya Dwivedi 45, Mohammed Shami 2/52). UP won by 4 wkts. Points: UP 4; Bengal 0.
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