Ranji Trophy: Pradipta's fifer leads Bengal to final with win over MP

INDORE: Left-arm spinner Pradipta Pramanik's brilliant fifer (5/51) led Bengal to the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 final with a massive 306-run win over defending champions Madhya Pradesh in the second semi-final at Holkar Cricket Stadium, here on Sunday.

Chasing a mammoth target of 548, Madhya Pradesh could only score 241 in their second innings.

With this, Bengal also avenged last season's semi-final loss to MP. They will now face Saurashtra in the summit clash on February 16 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Since MP was chasing a big total, most of their batters looked to play with positive intent on the final day. However, in the process, they ended up losing wickets at regular intervals.

Rajat Patidar was the top-scorer for the side with a 58-ball 52 while no other MP batter passed the 50-run mark. The likes of Yash Dubey and Anubhav Agarwal scored 30 each. On the other hand, Mukesh Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed and Akash Deep provided support to Pramanik by chipping in with crucial wickets.

Earlier, Anustup Majumdar and Sudip Gharami scored hundreds in the first innings to lay the foundation for Bengal's win. Akash then ripped through MP's batting order to bag a five-for as Bengal gained the crucial first innings lead of 268.

In their second innings, Bengal scored 279, leaving MP with an improbable target to chase on the last day.

Brief scores: Bengal 438 (Anustup Majumdar 120, Sudip Gharami 112; Kumar Kartikeya 3/95) & 279 (Anustup Majumdar 80; Saransh Jain 6-103) beat Madhya Pradesh 170 (Saransh Jain 65; Akash Deep 5-42) & 241 (Rajat Patidar 52; Pradipta Pramanik 5-51) by 306 runs.