Wriddhiman Saha,Ranadeb bose

Pune: Maharashtra captain Harshad Khadiwale’s 114 went in vain as Ranadeb Bose scalped five wickets to script a seven-wicket victory for Bengal in their opening Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match here Friday.

Bose (5/57), in off-spinner Saurashish Lahiri's (4/87) company, ran through the Maharashtra batting line-up, which threw away the advantage of a good start, given by Khadiwale and Rohan Bhosale (33).

The duo shared 99 runs for the opening wicket. Bose finished with match figures of 10 for 124.

Rohit Motwani (67) and Ganesh Gaikwad (43) were the other notable run-getters for the hosts, with the pair stitching together 90 runs for the sixth wicket to give Maharashtra bowlers something to defend.

Resuming at the overnight score of 305 for seven in their second essay, the last three Maharashtra wickets fell quickly, adding only 14 in 6.5 overs to be bundled out for 319, setting a 175-runs target Bengal, with more than more than two sessions to be played.

Bengal’s chase started on a wrong note when Arindam Das departed for a duck, with the scoreboard reading four.

However, ex-Indian Cricket League recruit Deep Dasgupta (54), and Wriddhiman Saha (59) shared a 119-run second-wicket stand, which almost ensured the win. Manoj Tiwary (35 ..) and Rohan Gavaskar finished the job with ease.

For Maharashtra, Sajin Sureshnath (2/38) and Kiran Ramling Adhav (1/63) were the wicket-takers.

Bengal, who fought their way back into the Super League last season, will miss three important members of the first XI when they take on Baroda in their next match at Eden Gardens.

Tiwary, Wriddhiman and Ashok Dinda have been chosen in the Board President’s XI, which will face Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad from November 11 to 13.