Madhya Pradesh beats Bengal to reach Ranji Trophy final after 23 years

Madhya Pradesh reached the final of Ranji Trophy final after a long wait of 23 years. Bengal needed 350 runs to register to win but Kumar Kartikeya's spell bundled them up at 175 i.e exactly half of the target.

Kartikeya, who played for Mumbai Indians in IPL, bowled 32 overs out of the 65. His final figures read 32-10-67-5 for an impressive match haul of 8 for 128.

Kartikeya actually played with the opposition batters' minds and even their top-scoring skipper, Abhimanyu Easwaran (78), looked beaten from the start.

Easwaran seemed too intent to impress the troika of



national selectors, present to watch the match, rather than trying to be counter-offensive. An innings that could make him a worthy contender for a spot on the Test team.

He quietly accumulated runs but the target looked unachievable.

Once Kartikeya knocked his off stump back, the batting order of Bengal collapsed

Bengal added 79 runs to their overnight score of 96/4 and with 83 overs set to be bowled, Kartikeya and MP wrapped it up in just 28.2 overs.

No wonder, the players that impressed the national selectors were Kartikeya and Rajat Patidar.