Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Bengal ease past Meghalaya

KOLKATA: Openers Abishek Porel and Karan Lal provided another good start to Bengal as they eased past Meghalaya by six wickets in a Group 'A' match of Syed Mushtaq Ali (T20) meet in Rajkot on Sunday.
The win helped Bengal to catch up with Madhya Pradesh, who lost to Rajasthan earlier, on 16 points from five matches although MP still have a better net run-rate. Meghalaya, who have lost all their group stage matches so far, made a good start on electing to bat first after winning the toss.
Their openers Arien Sangma (37, 36b, 4x2, 2x6) and Arpit Batewara (24,32b, 4x2) piled up 63 runs inside the first 12 overs before Prayas Roy Barman struck twice in the same over, castling both the batters. The Meghalaya innings never got going after that as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Larry Sangma played some attacking shots hitting three sixes and two fours to get 38 off 21 deliveries that saw Meghalaya finish at 127 for six in their 20 overs.
Porel and Lal straightaway took the match away from the rivals by putting up a breezy 80-run stand in just 5.3 overs. But there was a minor scare when Bengal lost four wickets for the addition of just one run in the next eight balls.
Aryan Bora had Lal stumped by Bhatewara for a polished 42 off just 16 deliveries and then had Shakir Gandhi caught by Arien Sangma in the last ball of the same over.
Ranjot Khaira and skipper Sudip Gharami departed in the next over off Himan Phukan without disturbing the scoreboard as Bengal were reduced to 81 for four.
But Porel continued to hold fort and got good support from Writtick Chatterjee (25*) as the duo took the side home in 11.5 overs only. Wicketkeeper-batter Porel hit nine boundaries and two sixes to stay undefeated on a 31-ball 61.
Brief scores: Meghalaya 127/6 in 20 ovs (Arien Sangma 37, Larry Sangma 38; Prayas Ray Barman 2/22) Bengal 128/4 in 11.5 ovs (Abhishek Porel 61*, Karan Lal 42, Writtick Chatterjee 25*; Himan Phukan 2/12). Bengal won by 6 wkts.