CUTTACK 24-Oct-2010 146
Bengal emerged champions in the East Zone Twenty20 Tournament, defeating injury-hit Orissa by 18 runs in the last league match at Ravenshaw University ground here today. This was the fourth successive win for Bengal and they topped the league table with 16 points. Orissa finished runners-up with 12 points, posting three wins and suffering one defeat. The top two sides, however, qualified for the Inter-Zonal Tournament to be held in March next year.
Assam thrashed defending champions Jharkhand by five wickets in another league match of the concluding day to finish third with eight points. Tripura occupied the fourth position with four points, while a hapless Jharkhand finished at the bottom, scoring zero point.
Injury problem spoiled Orissa`s chances of winning the zonal title as Niranjan Behera and Paresh Patel, their two main all-rounders, could not play against Bengal due to finger injury sustained during the penultimate league match against Jharkhand yesterday. The problem compounded further when skipper Haladhar Das too became a victim of finger injury and had to retiret while batting on four. Chasing a target of 133, the handicapped home team could make 114 for eight in the stipulated 20 overs.
Brief score:
At Ravenshaw ground: Bengal: 132/6 in 20 overs (S Goswami 43, LR Shukla 35, A Majumdar 27; Dhiraj Singh 2/23) beat Orissa: 114/8 in 20 overs (Rashmi Ranjan Das 24, Biplab Samantaray 22; Ashok Dinda 2/23, LR Shukla 2/31).
At Sunshine ground: Jharkhand: 138/6 in 20 overs (Ishank Jaggi 61 n.o, Rajiv Kumar 28, S Gautam 20; P Aziz 2/21, Pritam Das 2/28) lost to Assam: 142/5 in 19.2 overs (D Sharma 46, P Aziz 29; Shahbaz Nadeem 2/24, YV Krishnatry 2/28).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHOTO: Bengal team after emerging East Zone T-20 champions in Cuttack on Oct 24, 2010.
