UP, Bengal advance

CALCUTTA, MARCH 16: Bengal and Uttar Pradesh entered the next stage of the Ranji Trophy Super League after their rain-curtailed Group B match ended without any result today. As even the first innings could not be completed, both got two points each. That was good enough to carry them above Maharashtra, the third team from the group who have six points. Bengal topped the group due to a better run quotient in spite of having the identical seven points as UP.

UP, who started the day at 255 for eight, were bowled out for 293. Subroto Banerjee grabbed four wickets while Utpal Chaterjee had three. In reply, Bengal had scored 159 for five when play was called off. Opener Ajay Verma top scored for the hosts with 73. He was bowled by Rahul Sapru. Gautam Shome contributed 44. However, the Bengal innings tottered after the fall of the second wicket at 121 with Saba Karim and Ajay Das scoring two each. Srikant Kalyani and Munish Jolly departed without scoring.

Brief scores: Uttar Pradesh 293 J Yadav 82, RSharma 68, S Banerjee 4-63, U Chatterjee 3-65 vs Bengal 159-5 Ajay Verma 73, Gautam Shome 44, Rahul Sapru 1-4, Ubaid Kamal 1-12.