Naman Ojha (Top) congratulates Syed Abbas Ali after his century, while Sourav Ganguly celebrates the fall of a wicket at the Eden on Friday. Pictures by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: Even the presence of Team India captain Sourav Ganguly couldn?t ignite the passion in the Bengal players. After having started the day on a promising note, Bengal bowlers allowed Madhya Pradesh to settle down in the Ranji Trophy Elite group tie on Friday.

Syed Abbas Ali scored a brilliant unbeaten 135. The consolation for Bengal was veteran Utpal Chatterjee?s 500 th first class wicket.

It was quite early in the morning when the visitors lost three quick wickets in Sachin Dholpure, Amay Khurasia and Devendra Bundela. But opener Naman Ojha and Abbas (Mushtaq Ali?s grandson) dominated the proceedings thereafter and reached a respectable 272 for four at close. Ojha fell four short of his hundred.

Sourav did the early damage but his fellow teammates couldn?t grab the opportunity.

In the eighth over of the day, Sourav knocked off Sachin Dholpure?s stumps when the total was 14. The very next over from Shib Shankar Paul also fetched another wicket, when former India international and Madhya Pradesh captain Khurasia was bowled by an in-swinger. Sourav again struck in the 12th over when he had Devendra Bundela plumb in front of the wicket.

Having lost three wickets with only 16 runs on the board, the Madhya Pradesh innings should have folded up by stumps, but the determination and solidity in both Abbas and Ojha prevented that. They frustrated the Bengal bowlers in the next two sessions.

Abbas was severe on the bowlers hitting 20 boundaries. It couldn?t have been a better opportunity for the 28-year-old MP batsman to score a ton on the same ground where his grandfather Mushtaq was admired highly. In 1945, when an Australian Services team visited India for playing three Test matches, Mushtaq was dropped from the squad of the Calcutta Test. A huge outburst followed with people thronging the stadium with the slogan ?No Mushtaq, no Test?.

?I have heard that and so it was on my agenda to do something special on this particular ground,? Abbas said after the day?s proceedings.

After lunch, Abbas took all Bengal bowlers in his stride and produced some glorious shots on both sides of the wicket. On a wicket, which is on the slower side, Bengal perhaps made a mistake by opting to field on winning the toss.

It was evident from Abbas? batting that he played with ease. He hit three succesive boundaries off Sourav in his 15th and the day?s 86th over.

In the 52nd over, he hit three consecutive boundaries off Paul. Abbas, however, got a life on 33, when Laxmi Ratan Shukla failed to judge a catch at long-on off Utpal. Had Shukla held onto that catch, Utpal could have reached the 500-mark much earlier. Abbas reached his ton by a superb square cut off offie Sourashish Lahiri in the 62nd over of the day.

Abbas was well supported by wicketkeeper Ojha. The pair added 214 runs for the fourth wicket. Ojha batted for 300 minutes and faced 200 balls which included 16 hits to the fence.

After tea, when both batsmen were on the rampage, Bengal?s ploy of bowling round the legs didn?t work. Sourashish was straying on the leg-side and trying to frustrate the batsmen from one end while Utpal tried to attack them from the High Court end.

Bengal took the new ball in the 83rd over but Sourav?s magic did not work this time.

Naturally no one seemed satisfied with the performance. ?We could have done better on a good wicket,? Sourav said after the match. It remains to be seen if the Bengal bowlers can pull up their socks on the second morning to turn the tide in their favour.

Meanwhile, MP leggie Narendra Hirwani, who could have made a difference on the slow-turner, is indisposed and was left out of the final XI.