Kolkata: Poor batting display saw Bengal lose to Haryana by 72 runs in the pre-quarterfinals and crash out of Vijay Hazare Trophy meet at the Motibaug ground in Vadodara on Thursday.
Chasing 299 for victory, none of the Bengal batters could put up a significant fight as they were bowled out for 226 in 43.1 overs. Defending champions Haryana had shown Bengal the doors in the last season too by beating them in the quarterfinals.
Bengal's wait for a trophy this season thus got prolonged after they were ousted in the quarterfinals of Syed Mushtaq Ali meet last month losing to Baroda.
Put in to bat, Haryana did not make a good start losing two wickets in the powerplay. But an 84-run fourth-wicket stand between Nishant Sindhu and Parth Vats steadied their innings. Both the batters played free-flowing innings with Sindhu getting 64 (67b, 6x4, 1x6) and Vats 62 (77b, 6x4).
However, the Haryana lower order failed to capitalise on that foundation and from 240 for five in 40 overs, they ended up with 298 for nine in their 50 overs. Bengal got the service of India pacers Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar as the duo shared five wickets among them. Shami was particularly impressive in his third spell bowling some perfect yorkers and troubling the lower-order batters with some good rising deliveries to return with three for 61.
Mukesh kept the batters quiet by maintaining a perfect line and length on a wicket which was assisting pacers in the morning. He bowled two maiden overs to finish with two wickets giving away 46 runs in nine overs.
In spite of Abhimanyu Easwaran rejoining the side on his return from Australia, Bengal did not disturb their opening combo as Abhishek Porel and skipper Sudip Gharami gave the side a decent start putting up 70 runs in 12.5 overs.
But Easwaran had a bad day in office. After dropping an easy catch at third man, Easwaran, coming one-down got only 10 runs. Porel and Anushtup Majumder tried to put up a brief resistance stitching together a 59-run third-wicket stand. But once Porel departed for a well-made 57 off 78 balls, Bengal lost their last seven wickets for only 73 runs to fold up for 226. Vats did maximum damage picking up 3 for 33.
Brief scores: Haryana 298/9 in 50 ovs (Nishant Sindhu 64, Parth Vats 62; Mohammed Shami 3-61, Mukesh Kumar 2-46). Bengal 226 in 43.1 ovs (Abhisek Porel 57, Anushtup Majumdar 36; Parth Vats 3-33, Anshul Kamboj 2-25) Haryana won by 72 runs.