Bengal Tigers on course

Port City Cricket League
Bengal Tigers on course
Bengal Tigers of India took a big step towards qualifying for the semifinals by beating Dhaka Sports by 43 runs in their Port City Cricket League (PCL) clash at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium yesterday.
A rollicking 49-run knock from Jayachandra and 33 from Devendra set up a target of 166 runs for Dhaka Sports, but the reply ended on 122 runs giving the Kolkata club their second win in two matches.
Both teams had earlier registered easy victories in their first matches and were looking to extend that winning streak. After winning the toss, Bengal Tigers opted to bat first but found themselves in some trouble losing two batsmen very early. Former India wicketkeeper Deep Das Gupta was one of them as he became a victim of Syed Rasel after scoring just one run.
But they soon picked up the scoring rate with some good contribution in the middle-order reaching fifty in five overs and 84 in 10 without any further damage. Jayachandra was the main run-getter with 49 from 31 balls while Devendra scored a quickfire 33 and Rashmi Ranjan Parida got 24 to give Bengal Tigers a decent enough score.
A few wickets in a cluster late in the innings thwarted the scoring a bit, but they still managed to put up a big enough score of 165 runs on the board losing nine wickets in the process.
Chasing the target, Dhaka Sports got hiccups in their first two overs. First it was Uttam Sarker who fell trying to pull one from Ranadeb Bose. The next over, Imran Farhat was run out after a chaotic mix-up with his partner. Two wickets in first two overs made their work much harder and Dhaka never recovered from those early jolts. Off-spinner Rajesh Sharma then came in to the act and chipped in with wickets at regular intervals. Despite some big hitting from previous match’s hero Faisal Iqbal (41), Mehrab Hossain (17) and Shubhogoto Hom (15) the Dhaka Sports innings folded for 122 in 19.3 overs.
SCORES IN BRIEF
BENGAL TIGERS: 165 for 9 in 20 overs (Jayachandra 49, Devendra 33, Parida 24)
DHAKA SPORTS: 122 all out in 19.3 overs (Faisal 41, Mehrab 17, Shubhogoto 15; Rajesh 4 wickets)
Result: Bengal Tigers won by 43 runs.
Man-of-the-match: Rajesh Sharma.

Courtesy of The Daily Star