Finally, Bengal breathed a sigh of relief as they for the first time in the last thirteen years has reached the grand finale of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 season after thrashing Karnataka in semi-finals. Mukesh Kumar was the star performer for his team, halting Karun Nair-led the side to chase the target.
Bengal had last won the finals in 2007 but went on to lose the title to Mumbai. They last won the Ranji Trophy title during Sourav Ganguly’s debut season way back in 1989-90. In finals scheduled from March 9, they will face the winner of Gujarat and Saurashtra clash, which is underway in Rajkot.
Pacer Mukesh Kumar bowling attack dismantled Karnataka:
Karnatak had to chase 352 runs to make their place in finals. On day four, Karnataka entered the field with already losing three wickets of KL Rahul, Ravikumar Samarth, and captain Nair.
Mukesh Kumar’s first prey became Manish Pandey, who got the edge of the bat and giving Shreevats Goswami a catch behind the stumps.
Then in his next over he dismissed K V Siddharth (0) and S Sharath (0) on his consecutive deliveries. Karanataka had lost six wickets with only Devdutt Padikkal standing tall for his team. The 19-year-old, who was the star performer for his team in the white-ball cricket, came to bat at No. 3. He gave an easy catch to gloveman. It was the fifth wicket for Kumar as Karnataka was reeling at 118-7.
Krishnappa Gowtham and Abhimanyu Mithun tried to set up a partnership. They both gather quick 24 runs for the eighth wicket before Ishan Porel broke their partnership. In the end, Mukesh Kumar took his sixth wicket after dismissing Ronit More.
Karnataka’s disappointing end in Ranji Trophy 2019-20 semi-final:
Karnataka was recently crowned as domestic one-day (Vijay Hazare Trophy) and T20 (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) champions, end up having a terrible end in the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 season. There was no one for the team to take the charge against Bengal’s pacers. Only the teenager Padikkal showed some temperament to face them.
The inform batsman KL Rahul, who was playing the first game of the clash, scored 26 and 0 in first and second innings respectively. Karun Nair, Karnataka captain, also lost his wicket cheaply on both occasions.
Meanwhile, Bengal’s senior cricketer Anustup Majumdar was the saviour for his team. He scored unbeaten 149 runs for his team.