Sovima, Dec 29 (FN Bureau) Debutant Karan Lal made the best use of the opportunity claiming an impressive five-wicket haul as Bengal spinners wrecked havoc to outclass Nagaland by aninnings and 161 runs in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A clash at the Nagaland CricketStadium here on Thursday. Spin trio of Karan (5-47), Shahbaz Ahmed (3-38) and Pradipta Pramanik (2-24) bowled superblyto bundle out Nagaland for just 123 in their second innings on Day 3. Earlier, Bengal posted a challenging 450/4 in their first innings, in reply to Nagaland’s first innings score of 166. Resuming the day from overnight score of 336/4, skipper Manoj Tiwary (51 not out) and Shahbaz(75 not out) looked in complete control of the game as the experienced duo piled on some quickruns to add a vital 121-run partnership for the fifth wicket to help the visitors reach 450/4 in 96overs. Trailing by 284, Nagaland began their second innings positively but Karan stepped up to make the much-needed breakthrough for Bengal dismissing Yugandhar Singh (19) leg-before to bring a sighof relief in the visitors camp.
From there on, Bengal spinners pounced on the opportunity perfectly by bagging wickets at regular intervals to take the team closer to a memorable victory. However, Joshua Ozukum (26), Shrikant Mundhe (28), Sedezhalie Rupero (14) all got off to good starts but were no match in front of the Bengal spinning trio. Karan, Shahbaz and Pradipta complimented each other superbly to bag all Nagaland wickets in the second innings.In what can be called an icing on the cake moment for Bengal, the spin trio bagged 17 of 20 Nagaland wickets in the match. The victory helped Laxmi Ratan Shukla-coached side bag seven crucial points.Bengal, who will next take on Uttarakhand in Dehradun in their fourth match from January 3,now have 16 points from three matches.