Bengal beat Delhi by nine wickets in Ranji Trophy opener
Bengal completed a nine-wicket win over Delhi after Ayush Badoni's five-wicket haul and 85 runs proved insufficient for the visitors.
Bengal defeated Delhi by nine wickets on the fourth day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match at Kalyani on Wednesday. The visitors were bowled out for 277 in their second innings, setting Bengal a target of 89 runs. Abhimanyu Easwaran and Ankur Paul completed the chase in 15.3 overs.
Ayush Badoni took five wickets in Bengal's first innings of 429 before scoring 85 in Delhi's second innings. Delhi had begun the day at 101 for three and added 176 runs, with Badoni and Anuj Rawat adding 95 for the fourth wicket. Spinners Aamir Gani and Pradipta Pramanik took seven wickets between them.
Bengal openers Abhimanyu Easwaran remained unbeaten on 34 while Ankur Paul scored 38 before being dismissed. The win gives Bengal six points from their opening match. Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar will miss Bengal's next two matches after being called up for India A's tour of New Zealand.
CricHubb Take
Delhi's repeated top-order failures across both innings point to a structural issue that individual all-round contributions cannot consistently offset.