Twin fifties power Bengal to 261 for 6

Chennai, Jan 2 (UNI) Half centuries by Abhishek Das (65, 114 b, 8x4, 1x5) and Abhishek yadav (78, 152 b, 10x4) helped Bengal score 261 for six at close on the opening day of the Under-17 match against Delhi in the Vijay Merchant Trophy Cricket Tournament here today.

Delhi's decision to insert Bengal backfired as Bengal players played cautiously. Jayojit Basu contributed 30 and Taba Priya Sur made 36 despite a five wicket haul by left arm medium pacer Pradeep Sangwan.

In another match, Gujarat were 57 for three in reply to Uttar Pradesh's 213 all out.

Batting first, Uttar Pradesh got off to a decent start with opener P Awasthe (46) and A Verma (46) adding 93 runs in 23.5 overs.

Bhavani Singh (34) and Umang Sharma (32) consolidated the innings with a 80-run stand for the fourth wicket. Once they were separated, rest of the innings fell apart as UP collapsed from 176 for three in 53.3 overs to 213 all out in 67.4 overs.

UP lost their last seven wickets for 37 runs in a space of 14.1 overs. Leg spinner Harshal Patel did most of the damage claiming five for 96 and right arm medium pacer chipped in with three wickets.

However, UP struck back, claiming three wickets to reduce Gujarat to 57 for three in 22 overs with leggie Md Khalid claiming two wickets.

UNI