Mohammed Shami set it up first with his incisive bowling on Sunday morning. Thereafter, comeback man Shahbaz Ahmed ran through the opposition middle order as Bengal put themselves in a position of command in their ongoing Ranji Trophy game against Gujarat at Eden Gardens.
Having finished their first essay at 279 after resuming on 244/7, Bengal reduced Gujarat to 107/7 in the day’s final session. But, despite the advantage, there’s also some worry in the Bengal camp.
Just as they were pressing to clean up the rest of the Gujarat batters, braving a slow pitch that has nothing much to offer the bowlers, bad light once again played spoilsport and forced early stumps on Day II as well.
No play was possible after 3.20 pm.
The weather forecast for the next two days isn’t great either.
So, if the action on Day III resumes on time, the likes of Shami, Shahbaz and Akash Deep need to pick up the remaining three Gujarat wickets as quickly as possible to ensure Bengal a first-innings lead and three points at least from this game.
Selector’s call
Darting the ball consistently into the left-handers and moving the ball away at the last moment from the right-handers were a feature of Shami’s 14 overs on the day, which he bowled across three spells of five, three and six overs.
Gujarat opener Abhishek Desai and their No. 3 Siddharth Desai were Shami’s scalps on Sunday, with both left-handers falling prey to the ball that shaped in.
After stumps, national selector RP Singh was seen calling Shami over and speaking to him for a while at the dressing room lawn.
Assuming the selector took updates about Shami’s fitness and related matters, does that suggest a surprise awaits Shami before the two-Test series against South Africa next month?
After Shami laid the platform, spinner all-rounder Shahbaz, in his first first-class appearance in 11 months, focused on bowling the stump-to-stump line to strike four times and put Bengal right on top.
Shahbaz was pleased with his effort, but he and his teammates are far from relieved, owing to the weather and the slowness of the pitch.
Security breach
Late in the morning session, an incident of a security breach occurred at the Eden as one spectator entered the playing arena from the ‘D’ block gate that wasn’t locked, ran towards Shami and tried to shake hands with the senior pacer.
One of the on-field umpires then intervened before the fan smartly jogged his way back into the stands. With the Cricket Association of Bengal being overtly conscious of security-related matters these days, a block gate remaining unlocked was baffling to see.
Brief scores: Bengal 279 (Sumanta Gupta 63; Siddharth Desai 4/69). Gujarat 107/7 (Manan Hingrajia 41 batting; Mohammed Shami 2/34, Shahbaz Ahmed 4/17). At stumps, Day II.