Rajasthan defeat Bengal by 14 runs

Rajasthan staged a good come back through some incisive bowling to overcome Bengal by 14 runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament Group B game at the Sharad Pawar indoor academy at Bandra Kurla Complex here today.
Put in to bat, Rajasthan posted 137 for 9, riding on skipper Rajesh Bishnoi's breezy 18-ball 36 and opener Ankit Lamba's 34-ball 37.
In reply, Bengal started well to be 49 for 1 in the 7th over and were scoring at a brisk pace before losing the plot and finishing at 123 for 7 for their second defeat in as many days. They had lost to Baroda yesterday.

Batting first, Rajasthan lost opener Surya Prakash Suwalka (0) who was bowled in the third over but one-down batsman Divya Pratap Singh (30) and Lamba forged a 59-run stand to provide the team a good foundation.
But they lost 4 wickets in 5 balls and were reeling at 69 for 5 after Bengal skipper Saurashish Lahiri bagged three wickets in 4 balls by dismissing Lamba, Puneet Yadav and Naresh Gehlot. But he went for 20 runs in his next over.
Sourav Mondal, Sandipan Das and Sanjib Sanyal picked up two wickets each.

Barring opener Vivek Singh's 40-ball 48, none of the Bengal batsmen made any noteworthy contribution when Bengal chased and the team kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Rajasthan left-arm spinner Gajendra Singh Parihar picked up 3 for for 14, while Rituraj Singh bagged two wickets for 11 runs.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan 137 for 9 (Ankit Lamba 37, Rajesh Bishnoi 36, Divya Pratap Singh 30; Saurashish Lahiri 3 for 28, Sourav Mondal 2 for 23, Sandipan Das 2 for 22, Sanjib Samyal 2 for 35) beat Bengal 123 for 7 (Vivek Singh 48; Gajendra Singh Parihar 3 for 14, Rituraj Singh 2 for 11).