Bengal scored a scintillating innings and one run win over Hyderabad to cull five points and mitigate relegation risk in their four-day Elite group 'B' Ranji Trophy match at Kolkata on Friday.
The hosts, who had a vital 136 run lead in the first innings, cashed in on the turning track to bowl out the visitors for 135 in 54.3 overs in the second innings on the fourth and final day.
Starting from an overnight score of 41 for two, Hyderabad lost wickets in regular interval and finished just one run short of making Bengal bat again.
The innings win was possible largely due to the effort of Bengal spinners Utpal Chatterjee (3 for 46) and Sourashis Lahiri (4 for 26), who shared 16 wickets between them.
Chatterjee who had scalped career-best eight wickets for 54 runs in the first innings, recorded his eighth 10-wicket haul in Ranji Trophy competition.
In the Hyderabad second innings, only four batsmen -- Daniel Manohar (24), Vinay Kumar (25) and Arjun Yadav (25) and A T Rayudu (19) -- managed to reach double figure.
With this victory, Bengal bagged five points, including one bonus point for winning by an innings, which improved their standing to seven points from five matches.
Hyderabad, on the other hand, suffered a jolt after their thumping victory against Karnataka and remained with eight points from four outings.
With Assam losing their tie against Tamil Nadu, Bengal seem to have fought the relegation scare successfully.
