Bengal T20 Challenge: Sudip powers Kalighat into semis

Kolkata, Dec 7 (IANS) Sudip Chatterjee played yet another match-winning knock as he helped Kalighat Club beat Calcutta Customs by four wickets in a nail-biting finish and thereby reach the semi-finals of the ongoing Bengal T20 Challenge at the Eden Gardens.Chasing a stiff target of 170 runs, Kalighat on Sunday night lost Jayojit Basu cheaply to get reduced to 8/1 in the very first over. However, Sudip, who came out next, scored 79 off 47 deliveries and laid the foundation for a memorable victory.He smashed five fours and five sixes en route to his match-winning knock while Aamir Gani also contributed with a crucial 25-ball 33.Needing nine runs off the last over Abhishek Bose (8*) and Pradipta Pramanik (9*) kept their cool and guided Kalighat into the semi-finals."It was a challenging target and our plan was to use the powerplay well. Gani played a superb innings and Abhishek, Pradipta did a good job to finish the match well. It's all about team effort and I hope we will be able carry this momentum forward," Sudip said after the match.Earlier, put into bat, Suvankar Bal played a blistering knock of 86 runs off 51 balls to help Calcutta Customs post 169/5 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. Agniv Pan also contributed with 29-ball 39.Kalighat bowlers couldn't throw much of a challenge at the Customs batter as Sourav Mondal was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with figures of 2/43.
--IANS aak/