Bengal defeated Army by seven wickets in the Group C match of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here on Thursday with the help of experienced fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who was out of the Indian team, with four wickets for 13 runs.

This is Bengal’s fourth win in five matches and the team led by Abhimanyu Easwaran is on top of the points table with 16 points. With this the team has strengthened its claim to make it to the knockouts.

Easwaran, who is entering the IPL auction, apart from playing an inning of 58 runs in 37 balls, along with Abhishek Porel (56 runs in 29 balls) added 93 runs for the second wicket, due to which Bengal achieved the target of 166 runs in 15.1 overs.

Earlier, Shami, who was adjudged the best player of the match, took four wickets for 13 runs while Akashdeep took three wickets for 27 runs, due to which the Army team was reduced to 165 runs in 18.2 overs. Hrithik Chatterjee also took two wickets for 32 runs.

Hardik Pandya, who returned after injury and played a flamboyant innings against Punjab, this time impressed with the ball and took one wicket for 16 runs in four overs while his team Baroda defeated Gujarat by eight wickets in a low-scoring match.

Batting first, Gujarat team collapsed for just 73 runs in 14.1 overs. Only two players from Gujarat could reach double digits. For Baroda, former India Under-19 fast bowler Raj Limbani took three wickets for five runs.

In response, Baroda registered victory by scoring 74 runs for two wickets in just 6.4 overs. Hardik scored 10 runs in six balls. This Indian all-rounder will now leave for Cuttack on December 6 where he will join the Indian team for the five-match T20 International series against South Africa starting on December 9.

In another match of the group, Haryana defeated Himachal Pradesh by seven wickets with a half-century from Yashvardhan Dalal (76 not out) after the sharp bowling of fast bowlers Anshul Kamboj (3 wickets for 44 runs) and Anuj Thakral (3 wickets for 31 runs).

Batting first, Himachal had scored 176 runs for eight wickets, in response to which Haryana achieved the target in 18 overs. Dalal hit seven fours and four sixes in his innings.

Punjab easily defeated Puducherry by 54 runs in a one-sided match. Batting first, Punjab scored a strong score of 192 runs for five wickets with the help of 44 runs from Salil Arora and 34 runs from Abhishek Sharma.

In response, Puducherry team collapsed for 138 runs in 18.4 overs. Sidak Singh scored the highest 61 runs for Puducherry but he did not get the expected support from other batsmen. For Punjab, Abhishek took three wickets for 23 runs.

Namita

Prithvi Shaw, one of the most talented players of Indian cricket, has been away from international cricket for a long time. The limit was crossed last year, when no team bought him in the IPL 2025 auction. However, Shaw is determined to make a comeback with a strong performance. He is continuously scoring runs in domestic cricket. Meanwhile, Prithvi Shaw’s fortunes have suddenly changed. He has been made the captain of Maharashtra team for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Prithvi Shaw got captaincy in place of Ruturaj Gaikwad

Let us tell you that earlier the captain of Maharashtra for the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was Rituraj Gaikwad, but Gaikwad has been selected in Team India for the ODI series against South Africa. In such a situation, now the captaincy has been handed over to Prithvi Shaw in his place.

Surprisingly, Maharashtra Cricket Association has not announced any vice-captain yet. According to the report of Sportstar, the board has decided to include Prithvi Shaw in the team in place of Gaikwad. The official announcement will be made on November 24, just two days before Maharashtra plays its first match against Jammu and Kashmir.

Prithvi Shaw remained unsold in IPL 2025 auction

Prithvi Shaw, who played 5 Tests, 6 ODIs and one T20 match for India, remained unsold in the IPL 2025 auction. He has played 79 IPL matches. Shaw has 1892 runs in his name in IPL. He has played for Delhi in IPL for a long time. Shaw played the only T20 International match for India in 2021. The last Test was played in 2020 and the last ODI was played in 2021. His last match in IPL was in 2024. Looking at Prithvi Shaw’s form in domestic cricket, it would not be wrong to say that he can be sold in the mini auction of IPL 2026. If Shaw performs well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he may return to the IPL.