Rajkot , December 11 : Bengal were outplayed by 89 runs against Himachal Pradesh in the second match of Vijay Hazare Trophy played here in Rajkot . Bengal captain won the toss and put Himachal Pradesh into bat . The decision proved to have backfired as Himachal posted a total in excess of 300 runs to finish at 308/7 . Prashant Chopra top scored for Himachal Pradesh with 91 runs off 98 balls . He was ably supported by Robin Bisht who scored 84 runs . Paras Dogra and Rishi Dhawan made merry of the Bengal bowlers as they scores a quickfire 78 and 31 runs respectively . For Bengal , Ashoke Dinda picked 3 wickets after giving away 69 runs .Himachal Pradesh could have scored more but thanks to some accurate bowling from Bengal all rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla who gave away only 32 runs checked the run flow . In reply Bengal started their run chase on a disastrous note . Both openers Sreevats Goswami and Sayan Sekhar Mondal got out cheaply with the total on 20 runs . Captain Manoj Tiwari and Sudip Chatterjee raised some hopes for Bengal with a partnership of 65 runs for the 3rd wicket . Manoj ran himself out trying to take a quick single . He scored an entertaining knock of 36 runs off 39 balls . Soon to follow Manoj was Indian test keeper Wridhiman Saha , who got out after scoring just 1 run . Next to follow was Laxmi(5) and Sudeep who scored 33 runs . In no time Bengal were 98/6 and never looked like bouncing back . Pankaj Shaw chipped in with a quickfire 68 runs off 53 balls , hitting 6 fours and 2 huge six . But that was not enough to avoid the blushes of a humiliating defeat . Bengal innings got over for 219 runs thereby losing the match by 89 runs . Pankaj Jaiswal of Himachal Pradesh picked 3 wickets . With a win and a loss , Bengal will be pitted against the group toppers Uttar Pradesh who are undefeated so far in the tournament . With Suresh Raina in their ranks ( rested for first couple of matches) Bengal might get it tough to get past their opponents . But only hope for Manoj Tiwari and his men is Indian pacer Md Shami getting close to match fit . Shami was seen having a long work out at the nets , and might well take the field on Sunday .
