Bengal's pace attack helped to secure crucial points against Services in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Shami and Akash Deep did not secure a place in the ODI series against South Africa, as head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar opted for inexperienced Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna. This decision backfired in the second ODI match against the Proteas. The inexperienced bowling attack of India does not help the team, and the very next day, two Bengal pacers, Mohammed Shami and Akash Deep, answered the selectors with a brilliant performance.
In the match against Services in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match, Shami took four wickets for just 13 runs. Akash Deep took three wickets, and with this stellar performance, Bengal made services to stop at only 163 runs.
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Bengal captain Abhimanyu Easwaran won the toss and decided to bowl first at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad. Bowling first, Shami dismissed opener Gaurav Kochhar (0) with the first ball of the first over. He dismissed another opener, Ravi Chauhan (26), in his second over. Akash Deep clean bowled Nitin Tanwar (5), who was out for four in the fourth over of the match.
Bengal topped the table with this win
Chasing the target, Karan Lal, who had scored a century in the last match, got out in a duck empty-handed at the beginning. After this, Abhishek Porel and Abhimanyu Easwaran built a 93-run partnership. Abhishek was dismissed for 56 off 29 balls. Abhimanyu also showed his hitting ability and scored 58 off 37 balls. However, Bengal had reached 141 runs by the time they were dismissed.
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The new talent of Bengal, Yuvraj Keshwani, who just got his debut in the previous match, played a cameo of 36 runs not out in just 19 balls, and Akash Deep also scored 14* off 5 balls and with all these efforts Bengal reached the target before 29 balls. After this match, Bengal also topped the table with 16 points.
