Syed Mushtaq Ali: Despite Mohammed Shami’s heroics, Bengal lose to Haryana by 24 runs

Out-of-favour Indian pacer Mohammed Shami’s super show with the cherry went in vain as Bengal slumped to a 24-run loss to Haryana in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Elite T20 match at the RGIC Stadium in Hyderabad on Monday.
The win took Haryana to the top of Group C with 20 points from their seven matches, while Bengal had to be content at the fifth spot with 16 points.
Bengal skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran had no hesitation in asking Haryana to make first use of the strip but the move didn’t really pay off. Haryana openers Arsh Ranga (20) and skipper Ankit Kumar went after the Bengal attack and added 46 in only 4.2 before the former fell to Akash Deep.
Ankit (46) then found an able partner in Nishant Sindhu as the duo made merry by adding another 46 to the total off 34 balls. After Ankit’s departure, Nishant and wicketkeeper Yashvardhan Dalal took the score to 136 in the 14th over before Nishant fell for 48 (31b; 1×4, 4×6).
Shami (4/30) returned to tidy up things as he struck four times to restrict Haryana to 191 for nine.
Bengal batters began the pursuit in real earnest, but the Haryana bowlers stuck to their task. Abhishek Porel topscored with 47 off 24 balls with four fours and three sixes and Writtick Bijoy Chatterjee made 44 (33; 4×4, 1×6) but the asking rate kept climbing up. Bengal folded up for 167 with Ishant Bhardwaj (2.18) and S P Kumar (2/25) being the pick of bowlers.
Brief scores: Haryana 191/9 in 20 overs (Ankit Kumar 46, Nishant Sindhu 48, Yashvardhan Dalal 31; Mohammed Shami 4/30, Akash Deep 2/32, Pradipta Pramanik 2/20) bt Bengal 167 in 20 overs (Abishek Porel 47, Writtick Bijoy Chatterjee 44, Keswani 25; Anshul Kamboj 2/42, Ishant Bhardwaj 2/18, Samant Jakhar 2/32, S P Kumar 2/25). Haryana 4 points, Bengal 0.