Calcutta: An eerie silence engulfed the home team’s camp after their Day III’s play at the Eden on Tuesday.

Having conceded first innings lead by a slender three-run margin in a dramatic fashion in their match against Gujarat, Bengal players chose to remain inside the dressing room to evade media. Normally, the protocol has been the performer of each team speaks to the media.

Having faltered in his effort — of 93 runs, Bengal’s top-scorer —Laxmi Ratan Shukla apparently “shied away” from the media. “He’s depressed…,” said a team official.

But coach Paras Mhambrey and skipper Deep Dasgupta put up a brave front echoing that Gujarat “played better cricket today”.

“There’s no denying the fact…they (Gujarat) were better in all departments…But we should not take the credit away from Rohan-Laxmi, who led the fightback, though could not finish it…,” Mhambrey said. “Winning is difficult for us now… a couple of early wickets we could have made a difference but their openers did pretty well.”

Deep, on the other hand, admitted that it was their “lapse of concentration”, when they were less than 10-run short of the lead, which made all the difference.

A pragmatic Deep signed off on a lighter vein: “We gave Gujarat an early Christmas gift.”