KOLKATA: Skipper
Rahul Tripathi led from the front with an unbeaten 125 as
Maharashtra beat
Bengal
by seven wickets in their
Vijay Hazare Trophy
(one-dayers) meet opener at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cricket Stadium in Amtar, Himachal Pradesh, on Monday.
Chasing 294 runs for victory, Maharashtra lost opener Vijay Zol early, but a steady 80-run second-wicket stand between Tripathi and Ruturaj Dasharath Gaikwad frustrated Bengal. Maharashtra lost Gaikwad and Ankit Bawne in quick succession, but Tripathi found another able ally in Naushad Shaikh.
Tripathi, who raced to his half-century in 47 balls and 100 in 94 balls, remained unbeaten on 125 (102 balls, 12x4, 4x6). He and Shaikh put on an undefeated 104 for the fourth wicket, the latter being unbeaten on 39 (32b, 4x4, 1x6).
Bengal skipper
Manoj Tiwary used eight bowlers, but failed to get the desired breakthroughs. Earlier, Bengal suffered a middle-order collapse which saw them lose six wickets for 51 runs and finish at 293 for 9 after being asked to bat first.
Opener
Abhimanyu Easwaran anchored the innings with a fluent 114-ball 103 on his return to the senior team. The youngster was involved in a 91-run second-wicket stand with Vivek Singh after Bengal lost opener Shreevats Goswami for 18.
The Bengal innings got some momentum after skipper Tiwary came in at No. 4. He and Easwaran added 59 before the youngster was dismissed for 103 (114 balls, 12x4).
Bengal lost a flurry of wickets and it was left to Tiwary to lift the total to 293. The skipper remained undefeated on 80, which included four fours and two sixes.
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