Indore : Madhya Pradesh (MP) dominated Bengal on Day 1 at Holkar Stadium, Indore. Iconic pacer Mohammed Shami from Bengal made comeback after a year, but was visibly not at his best.
Bowling first, MP pacers Kulwant Khejeoliya (4/94) & Aryan Pandey (4/47) rattled Bengal top order for 79 runs at the beginning.
A 96 runs from Shahbaz Ahmed (92) & Anustup Majumdar (44) put Bengal back on track.
However, Aryan and Khejroliya cleaned up rest of Bengal Batting order on 228 runs.
During Bengal’s bowling, the limelight was on Mohammed Shami, who, after ICC ODI World Cup 2023 final went through a surgery and came back after a year to competitive Cricket.
The rustiness of Shami, who underwent Achilles tendon surgery in February, was evident even though he bowled mostly in good areas in his spells of 4-0-16-0 and 6-1-18-0, ending with 0/34.
“It’s never easy to come back from a surgery and bowl after a year. The more Shami plays, the better he will become,” said Bengal coach L. R. Shukla.
MP with help of Subhrangshu Senapati (44*) & Rajat Patidar (41*) ended the day with 103-1 , trailing by 125 runs.
