Calcutta: When Bengal and Odisha square off in their Vijay Hazare Trophy opener, on Friday, it will also mark the debut of a venue in the Bengal Cricket Academy (BCA) ground at Kalyani.
No wonder players of both camps are pretty impressed with the facilities on offer at the picturesque academy. But the surface at the centre that seems to have raised some concerns, at least for the home team.
There was hardly any difference between the pitch and the outfield when both teams slogged it out during Thursday’s training session. It was learnt that the Bengal team management, on noticing the green wicket, requested the grass to be trimmed a little bit before action gets underway.
Now, irrespective of whether there’s further mopping or not, it will be a major challenge for the team batting first on the BCA wicket.
“I don’t think we should be too bothered about venue or pitch. Whatever there is on offer, we have to do our job, which is concentrating on playing hard and winning,” was Bengal captain Laxmi Ratan Shukla’s way of assessing the scenario.
The captain’s words aside, batting continues to be Bengal’s area of concern, as it never looked solid even in the preparatory tournaments this season.
In comparison, Odisha have emerged champion in a competition in Pune. So, it won’t be unfair at all to say Odisha are a better-prepared unit than their rivals.
If Bengal are the ones batting first, Arindam Das and Sreevats Goswami — likely to open — face the task of negating pacer Basant Mohanty, whose bowling could well turn out to be the decisive factor.
But having spent some vital sessions at the nets before VVS Laxman — batting coach of the Vision 2020 project — the Manoj Tiwarys ought to execute the advice of the former great and put up an impressive show with the bat. For his part, though, Manoj believes he’s in for a far better season.
“I had just with one session with VVS and he advised me about a couple of things. He looked very impressed on hearing about the hundred I scored in Lahli (for East Zone at the Duleep Trophy). What he wants me to work on is my back-foot play… He feels it has to be parallel with the crease,” Manoj emphasised.
