Maharashtra lost their opening Ranji Trophy match to Bengal by seven wickets at the Poona Club grounds on Friday.

Maharashtra started the final day at 305/7 and managed to add only fourteen runs to their overnight total to be bowled out for 319. Bose picked up the final two wickets to claim a total of ten wickets in the match.

Bengal were set to chase a target of 174 and they stumbled initially. Arindam Das was trapped in front of the wicket by Maharashtra paceman Sajin Sureshnath Bengal were in trouble at 4/1.

However, it was the mixture of experience and good stroke play that steadied the ship for Bengal. Deep Dasgupta abd Wriddhiman Saha put on a partnership of 119 runs and virtually batted Maharashtra out of the game. Deep Dasgupta scored 54 runs while his partner scored 59 and ensured their team's victory. Later, Manoj Tiwary and Rohan Gavaskar put on a partnership of 46 runs and got their team home.

This was Bengal's first match in the Elite Division after being promoted and captain Laxmiratan Shukla was delighted with the victory. "I thought we bowled extremely well but our batting needs to undergo some improvement. We should have scored at least a hundred runs more in the first innings. Having said that I am happy with the team's overall performance", said Shukla.

Shaun Williams, coach of Maharashtra, was disappointed with his team's performance. "I am unhappy with the performance of my players, especially in the field. We dropped too many catches. The first session of the match really killed us. We have a lot to work on", he said, adding that the positives that he could take from the game are the century by skipper Harshad Khadiwale, the batting performance of wicketkeeper Rohit Motwani and bowling performance of debutant Sajin Sureshnath. Maharashtra will now face Saurashtra in Rajkot on November 17.

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