Rahul Tripathi goes for a big hit © BCCI
Muthuswamy, Tripathi lead Maharashtra to victory
Wriddhiman Saha was dismissed for a duck for the second game in a row as Bengal put up only 138 for 7 in their 20 overs. Maharashtra cantered to victory in just 17.1 overs with seven wickets in the bag in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Super League Group A game in Indore.
Domnic Muthuswami, the right-arm medium pacer celebrating his 38th birthday, was the one to cause most damage to the Bengal batting line-up, sending back Shreevats Goswami and Abhimanyu Easwaran with only three runs on the board – it was 3 for 3 when Easwaran was dismissed, Saha having fallen first to Samad Fallah.
Muthuswami ended with 3 for 15 from his four overs after striking late in the Bengal innings again, but there was a fightback led by Manoj Tiwary, the captain, and Shahbaz Ahmed, the No. 7 batsman. After they came together with the scoreboard reading 25 for 5, Tiwary and Shahbaz collaborated for 55 runs before Tiwary fell for 41. Shahbaz went on to hit a breezy 44-ball 60.
It looked like a below-par target, and Rahul Tripathi made it appear even smaller with an unbeaten 46-ball 60 from the top of the order. Ruturaj Gaekwad was the early aggressor in the chase, hitting 20 of the 25 runs for the first wicket, and Tripathi then put together 59 runs for the second wicket with Rohit Motwani (36) to put the game beyond Bengal.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo