A spectacular collapse in the end saw Orissa lose their Vijay Hazare Trophy East Zone group league opener against hosts Bengal at the newly built Bengal Cricket Academy in Kalyani.

Chasing 221 for victory, the visitors were sitting pretty at 186 for five after 44 overs. Natraj Behera was batting beautifully and had added 98 runs with Arvind Singh for the sixth wicket. But Ashok Dinda removed the danger man in the first ball of his third spell. Behera tried to lift him over covers but didn’t get the elevation, caught by Bengal skipper Laxmi Shukla. It was the beginning of the end.

Behera made 77 off 114 balls but he should have finished off the job. The lower order then imploded after his departure. The last four wickets fell for nine runs and Orissa were all out for 195 in 46.4 overs.

Veerpratap Singh was the chief destroyer for Bengal with five wickets, Shukla took two in two balls while Dinda, too, bagged a couple.

It was a good game of cricket on a seamer-friendly surface. Kalyani was hosting its first big-time fixture and those who cared to turn up enjoyed it thoroughly.

Bengal lost the toss and were sent in. They suffered early jitters after losing Arindam Das and Sudip Chatterjee inside eight overs. Then Manoj Tiwary (16) fell prey to a catch from Govind Poddar at second slip and the nerves crept in.

Goswami’s show

Sreevats Goswami, however, stood composed at the other end and thanks to his 145-ball 110, Bengal ended up with a challenging total. Saurasish Lahiri (27 not out, 22 balls) used the long handle effectively in the final overs and Bengal finished at 220 for six in 50 overs.

Orissa, however, bowled too many length balls at the death and conceded 57 runs in the last five overs.

Brief scores: Bengal 220/6 in 50 overs (Sreevats Goswami 110, Suvojit Banerjee 33; Basant Mohanty 3/46) beat Orissa 195 all out in 46.4 overs (Natraj Behera 77, Arvind Singh 50; VP Singh 5/23) by 25 runs.

Vidarbha crush rajasthan

Nagpur: Vidarbha’s outstation professionals Ganesh Sathish and India discard Subramanium Badrinath made significant contributions as the hosts hammered Rajasthan by 134 runs in a Central Zone leg match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Nagpur on Friday.

Batting first, Vidarbha posted 285 in 49.3 overs with Sathish (103) and Badrinath (86) scoring bulk of the runs. For Rajasthan, skipper Pankaj Singh bowled his heart out on an unresponsive pitch to grab six for 50 in 10 overs.

In reply, Ashok Menaria (60) and Puneet Yadav (44) added an even-100 for the fourth wicket but that certainly wasn’t enough as seven of the batsmen failed to reach double digits.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 285/10 (G Satish 103, S Badrinath 86; P Singh 6/50) vs Rajasthan 151/10 (A Menaria 60)