Utpal Chatterjee at the Eden on Thursday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: Bengal and Madhya Pradesh are in dire straits. Both are staring at relegation to the Plate group next season. To prevent that, both captains are eyeing the crucial two points when they face-off in the final Ranji Trophy Elite group A match at the Eden from Friday.

Either a defeat or two points ? by virtue of a first innings lead ? will surely bring down curtains on one of the two. Bengal skipper Rohan Gavaskar and his counterpart Amay Khurasia are well aware of the fact.

?I know it is a tough job. But the wicket seems a good one and we will try our best to snatch a couple of points to survive in the Elite group,? Khurasia said on Thursday.

Rohan, though, didn?t say in as many words on the eve of the crunch, tie but made it sure his team will also go for two points, initially, and a win if possible.

?Our team has been strengthened by the inclusion of Utpal (Chatterjee), Devang (Gandhi) and especially Sourav (Ganguly). We will have to get our act together to stay in the Elite,? Rohan said.

But all eyes will be on Team India captain, who has come forward to save Bengal, after a hectic international schedule. He, however, stayed away from nets on Thursday. ?We will have our team meeting on Friday morning once Sourav comes,? a team source said.

Rohan seemed pretty happy with the wicket, though he didn?t take part in the practice session as he had slight fever. ?I will definitely play the match and hope to be fit by Friday morning.?

Though the captain kept the final XI under wraps, according to a well-placed source of The Telegraph, Bengal will play with two seamers ? Shib Shankar Paul and Ranadeb Bose ? while Sourav will also roll his arms.

It was learnt that the wicket is going to help the seamers, but turns are not ruled out on the last two days.

Khurasia, on the other hand is a bit tense. He is well aware of the calibre of players in the opposite camp, who can turn the tide of the match at any time.

?Sourav?s availability is a big boost for Bengal. There?s also Utpal Chatterjee, a man full of experience,? he added. Khurasia was full of praise for Utpal. ?Even at 42 he is so fit? It?s amazing.?

The Madhya Pradesh captain will bank mainly on his bowlers. ?We are keen to perform in this match and salvage some pride,? Khurasia said. He added that the team would bat first if he wins the toss.

The captain apart, the visitors have a reasonably good batting line-up consisting of Devender Bundela (who scored more than 450 runs in the season at an average of above 30), Abbas Ali (grandson of former Indian legend Mushtaq Ali), Sachin Dholpure, Naman Ojha and N. Patwardhan.

The bowling, obviously, will be spearheaded by veteran Narendra Hirwani, who knows the conditions better than anyone else, having played a couple seasons for Bengal in the past. Hirwani will be supported by Sanjay Pandey, Sunil Dholpure and Y. Golwalker.

The wicket promising to help seamers in the first two days, much will depend on how Ranadeb and Shib Shankar bowl in a pressure situation. And with the track expected to turn from Day III, Utpal, who came out of retirement to play this game, will have a big role to play.

Teams

Bengal (likely): Arindam Das, Deep Dasgupta, Subhomoy Das, Rohan Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly, Devang Gandhi, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Sourashish Lahiri, Utpal Chatterjee, Shib Shankar Paul, Ranadeb Bose.

Madhya Pradesh (from): Naman Ojha, Sachin Dholpure, Devendra Bundela, Syed Abbas Ali, Amay Khurasia, Y. Gowalkar, Narendra Hirwani, J.P. Likhar, Sanjay Pandey, Sunil Dholpure, N.A. Patwardhan, Rahul Bakshi, Santanu Pitre, B. Tomar, Ambalal Patidar.

Umpires: S. Ravindra, K. Harikrishna. Match Referee: Suresh Deo.