Kolkata: An all-round show from Tapan Memorial saw them beat East Bengal by six wickets in the Bengal T20 Challenge at Eden Gardens on Wednesday (November 25).
East Bengal won the toss and elected to bat, a move which backfired as they were restricted to 118 for 9. In reply, Tapan romped home to 119/4 with 23 balls to spare.
When Tapan came out to bat chasing a small total, EB triggered a mini-collapse with Mukesh Kumar firing on all cylinders. At 35/3 Sandipan Das and Shahbaz Ahmad joined forces and changed the picture. When Sandipan Das returned after an accomplished 49 off just 39 balls with four boundaries and three sixes, Tapan needed 15 for victory. Skipper Ahmad unbeaten on 32 off 22 balls (4×2, 6×1) and Kaif Ahmed not out on 9 saw their team home.
“It always feels good to beat a heavyweight team. I am very happy to win the first match and hopefully, we will carry this momentum forward in the tournament,” an elated Sandipan said.
Earlier, East Bengal never really got off to a start as Tapan’s Ramesh Prasad bowled with guile and imagination removing Abhijit Bhagat, Arindam Ghosh, Sayan Mandal and skipper Arnab Nandi and effectively putting and end to their resistance. The left-arm orthodox returned with figures of four wickets for 16 runs from his allotted quota.
“After a long time we are playing again and it feels good to be back. I am very happy to bag 4 wickets and help my team win the first match of the tournament,” Ramesh said after the match. Another East Bengal veteran Sreevats Goswami also failed to fire.
