Maharashtra end Bengal's unbeaten run with a 10-wicket win at Eden Gardens

Maharashtra beat Bengal by 10 wickets at Eden Gardens to end the home side's unbeaten start to the Ranji Trophy season and take over at the top of Elite Group C

Bengal began the fourth day one run ahead with six second-innings wickets standing, and lasted a little over two hours. They were bowled out for 186 in 54.4 overs, leaving Maharashtra 112 to win.

The visitors needed 19.4 overs and lost nobody. Prithvi Shaw, leading the side, finished unbeaten on 53 from 50 balls, and Sachin Dhas was 61 not out from 68 as Maharashtra closed on 114 for 0.

It is Bengal's first defeat in four matches, and it costs them the lead in the group.

A first morning that decided the match

Maharashtra won the toss and bowled, and the decision was vindicated inside two sessions. Bengal were dismissed for 143 in 36.5 overs.

Only Abishek Porel made much of the conditions, with 54 from 67 balls. No other Bengal batter passed fifty in the innings.

It set a pattern the home batting never escaped across the four days, and it handed Maharashtra the initiative they held to the end.

Sanghvi holds the middle together

Maharashtra did not bat a great deal better, but they batted longer. Tanay Sanghvi carried the innings from the middle order and finished unbeaten on 60 from 179 balls, an innings of almost no risk.

The visitors reached 218 in 82.5 overs for a first-innings lead of 75, having resumed the third morning on 207 for 9 and added 11.

The lead came despite a sharp return from Mohammed Shami, who took 4-37, and Shahbaz Ahmed, who finished with 3-39.

Weather then took most of the third day. Rain washed out the opening session, only 27.5 overs were possible in three hours and 16 minutes of play, and bad light ended it at tea.

Bengal's second innings unravels

In what was left of that third day, Bengal lost captain Abhimanyu Easwaran caught behind off Pradeep Dadhe.

Sanghvi then struck twice in three deliveries, removing Sudip Gharami for 12 and Sudip Chatterjee for a duck to leave the home side 25 for 3.

Ankur Paul made 32 before he was caught at silly point, ending a stand of 49 with Porel, and Bengal closed on 76 for 4 — one run in front with the match still live.

Dadhe removed Suraj Jaiswal and Shahbaz Ahmed inside the first six overs of the fourth morning to make it 87 for 6, and the game was effectively gone.

A last stand and two four-wicket hauls

Sumanta Gupta and Porel added 64 for the seventh wicket, the only passage of the innings Bengal controlled.

Hitesh Walunj broke it, having Porel caught for 65 from 84 balls, and took two more to finish with 4-53.

Dadhe ended Gupta's resistance on 59 from 93 and closed with 4-48, the two seamers sharing eight of the ten wickets between them.

Sanghvi was named player of the match for his unbeaten 60 and five wickets across the two innings.

Maharashtra go top of Group C

The chase was a formality. Shaw and Dhas took the runs off unbroken, and Shami went wicketless in the innings, conceding 25 from four overs.

Maharashtra now have 19 points from four matches, from two wins and two draws, and lead Elite Group C.

Bengal, with three wins and this defeat, stay on 18 points and drop to second, with the group still to be decided over the rounds that remain.

Scorecard: Bengal 143 (36.5 ov) and 186 (54.4 ov) lost to Maharashtra 218 (82.5 ov) and 114 for 0 (19.4 ov) by 10 wickets at Eden Gardens.

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