Mushtaq: Ranjane shines as Mumbai stun Bengal by three wickets

All-rounder Shubham Ranjane shone with both the bat and ball, as his unbeaten 30 helped Mumbai defeat Bengal by three wickets in a last ball thriller of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament here on Thursday.

Chasing a modest 154-run target, Mumbai were teetering at 105/5 at a stage. And then thanks to Ranjane's heroics with the bat, Mumbai chased the target on the final ball to remain unbeaten.

This was Mumbai's fifth win and they are on top of the points table in Group D and have almost sealed their place in the knockout stage.

The hosts needed four runs to win of the final ball and Ranjane (30 not out off 17 balls, 5x4) reversed sweep a full toss to the third man boundary, as celebrations began in the Mumbai camp.

Mumbai opener Jay Bista (48 off 41 balls; 5x4 and 1x6) and Aditya Tare (37 off 27 balls) added 78 for the first wicket before the team's middle order collapsed.

Shreyas Iyer (15), Siddhesh Lad (0) and Shivam Dube (0) fell in quick sussession after Bista departed as Mumbai slumped to 105-5 from 102-2.

Then Ranjane did the rescue act in company of skipper Suryakumar Yadav (22 of 18 balls), as the two took the hosts near the target. However, Surya fell with three balls to left, putting the onus on Ranjane, who finished the match in style.

Earlier, invited to bat, Bengal failed to capitalise on the start provided by openers Vivek Singh (56 off 45 balls) and Shreevats Goswami (43 off 28 balls) to post a below-par 153/4 on the board.

Singh and Goswami took on an experienced Mumbai attack to put up 67 runs for the first wicket. But as they were poised for a big score, pacer Dhawal Kulkarni removed Goswami.

Then Ranjane inflicted the damage and his wickets included Singh, Abhimanyu Easwaran (4) and Manoj Tiwari (12) to peg back the visitors.

In the first match at Bandra Kurla Complex, Haryana defeated Pondicherry by six wickets, while in the second game at the same venue, Assam thrashed minnows Mizoram by nine wickets.

In the second game at Wankhede, Madhya Pradesh got better of Meghalaya by 85 runs.

Brief Scores: Bengal 153/4 (Vivek Singh 56, Shreevats Goswami 43; Shubham Ranjane 3-17) lost to Mumbai 154/7 (Jay Bista 48, Aditya Tare 37, Shubham Ranjane 30 not out; Shahbaz Ahamad 2-25) by three wickets.

At Wankhede: Madhya Pradesh 244/4 (Rajat Patidar 68 not out, Ashutosh Sharma 60, Naman Ojha 56; Amiangshu Sen 1- 16) beat Meghalaya 159/9 (Puneet Bisht 44, Sanjay Yadav 27; Saransh Jain 3-43) by 85 runs.

At BKC: Pondicherry 114 all out (Anand Subramanyan 22, Fabid Ahmed 20; Harshal Patel 3-14, Ashish Goods 3-22) lost to Haryana 115/4 (Guntashveer Singh 37, Chaityan Bishnoi 33; Fabid Ahmed 2-8) by six wickets.

At BKC:Mizoram 66 all out (Taruwar Kohli 25, Lal Zela 12; Abu Nechim 3-3) lost to Assam 70/1 (Pallav Kumar Das 37, Sarupam Purkayastha 27 not out; Su Mit Lama 1-11) by nine wickets.