Calcutta: The fall of 20 wickets in a single day is no joke. But with wickets turning out to be an absolute paradise for the bowlers, especially in this Ranji Trophy season, such a thing is turning out to be a pretty common affair.
The pitch on which the Bengal-Odisha Group A Ranji Trophy match is being played, at the Bengal Cricket Academy (BCA) ground in Kalyani, was as much in the spotlight as the rampaging bowlers. The 22-yard strip looked somewhat under-prepared and it would be interesting to see what Match Referee Shakti Singh has to say in his report.
Bengal, though, won’t be complaining because they wanted to enjoy the benefits of playing at home and that is what they are doing. Being bowled out for a paltry 142 in their first innings, Amir Gani led Bengal’s bowling attack by taking his career-best six for 34 as Odisha were bundled out for an even poorer score of 107.
At the draw of stumps, Bengal were safe at 23 without loss in their second innings, stretching their overall lead to 58. It’s needless to say Bengal enjoy the upper hand, unless of course the second day unfolds more drama.
Such is the nature of the wicket that one can’t really feel safe and secured, and so Bengal must have their fingers crossed, despite taking the first innings lead.
Bengal will need their batsmen to give their all on Tuesday morning. The bowlers will dictate terms and so it will not be an easy job.
The onus, therefore, lies once again with Abhimanyu Easwaran. As per what was on show in the closing stages of Day I, he looks to be in the same rhythm as he was in the first innings.
Abhimanyu and the other opener, Sayan Sekhar Mndal, were at the crease, batting on 20 and 3, respectively.
A dustbowl with quite a few cracks and uneven bounce – that’s how the wicket was on the very first day of the game. It’s quite unusual for a pitch to be like that on the opening day of the match. And it looks very unlikely that the game will go into the fourth and final day.
Going in with three spinners by handing Anurag Tiwari a debut and including an extra batsman in Pramod Chandila, Bengal dropped pacers Mukesh Kumar and Veer Pratap Singh, making two changes from the last match’s XI.
They went in with the right plan on what was presumed as a normal turning track. Captain Manoj Tiwary made the right call, too, as he opted to bat on winning the toss.
But little did the hosts know that the track on offer on the first day would put a spin on all plans.
Such was the unevenness of bounce that pacer Suryakant Pradhan ripped through Bengal’s top order with just 21 runs on the board. Bengal batsmen fell like nine pins as at one stage, it appeared as if they wouldn’t even reach 100 runs.
However, Abhimanyu (88) held firm at one end and produced a knock of class and quality.
Wickets tumbling at one end hardly had any effect on him. Showing wonderful temperament, he turned out to be the perfect example to other established batsmen in this Bengal line-up when it comes to batting on these surfaces.
Yes, batting is difficult on this wicket, but the shots that Sreevats Goswami and Pankaj Shaw tried to play were bad to say the least.
