Devang's ton ensures Bengal win

Bengal skipper Devang Gandhi struck a quick fire unbeaten 131 to lead Bengal to an eight wicket victory over Tripura in the East Zone Ranji Trophy one-day match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Gandhi, who took over the charge of the side early this month, played a captain's knock (154m, 110b, 10x4, 4x6) as the hosts record their first win of the one-day event and bag five points, including a bonus.

Opting to field after winning the toss, Bengal restricted the visitors to 242 for four in 50 overs and then surpassed the target with 12.2 overs to spare.

Coming at number three, Gandhi built a 154-run partnership with opener Arindam Das (78) before joining hands with his predecessor Rohan Gavaskar (24 not out) to finish the match.

Gandhi hit Sujit Roy for a four to reach his century and lifted a delivery of Chetan Sachdev over the long on to score the winning runs.

Earlier, Tripura's Manoj Singh played an unbeaten knock of 106 (161m, 127b, 10x4) to lead the visitors reach a comfortable 242/4 in 50 overs.

Singh, who was dropped at 17 by wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta off Sanjib Sanyal, added 124 runs for the fourth wicket with Tarifur Rehman (59) to enable Tripura score their highest total against Bengal. Pacer Ranadeb Bose was the most successful bowler for Bengal claiming three for 58.

Bengal have seven points after two matches while Tripura's has just one point from the two outings.

Brief scores:

Tripura 242/4 in 50 overs (M Singh not out 106, T Rehman 59, R Prasanna 42; R Bose 3/58).
Bengal 243/2 in 37.4 overs (D Gandhi not out 131, A Das 78, R Gavaskar not out 24; A Lamba 1/22)