Devang not taking qualification for granted

Calcutta: Bengal face a make-or-break East Zone one-day national meet tie against Orissa at the Eden on Tuesday. Orissa?s win over Assam on Monday ensured them a berth in the main round. They lead the zone with 13 points, followed by Bengal (12) and Jharkhand (6). A victory for Bengal will automatically ensure their passage to the next phase.

However, if Bengal lose on Tuesday and surrender the bonus point, and Jharkhand gain five points against Assam at the JU campus ground, both teams will be tied on 11. The net run-rate will then come into effect, where Bengal have a slight advantage.

?Obviously, it?s an important match for us? Since qualification is not guaranteed, we can?t afford to take things lightly,? captain Devang Gandhi said after practice at the Kalighat ground on Monday.

Shib Shankar Paul is uncertain because of a side strain. While Karsan Ghavri felt Sabir Ali will be a good bet, Devang was of the opinion that playing an extra spinner in Murtaza Lodhgar could be of benefit. ?The wicket is flat and slow,? was Devang?s reasoning.

Manoj Tewari is unavailable and Subhomoy Das, who will take his place, will bat at No. 6. Three Bengal players ? Arindam Das, Anirban Chatterjee and Subhomoy ? were absent at practice Monday because of office trials.

Orissa captain Debashish Mohanty was pretty relaxed after Monday?s win. ?We don?t want to put extra pressure on the team. If we can continue in the same vein, everything else will fall into place.?

TEAMS

Bengal (likely): Arindam Das, Sanjib Sanyal, Devang Gandhi, Rohan Gavaskar, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Subhomoy Das, Deep Dasgupta, Anirban Chatterjee, Sourashish Lahiri, Ranadeb Bose, Sabir Ali/Murtaza Lodhgar.

Orissa (likely): BBCC Mahapatra, Shiv Sundar Das, Subit Biswal, Sanjay Raul, P. Jaychandra, Prabhanjan Mallick, P. Pradhan, Sanjay Satpathy, Debashish Mohanty, D. Mangaraj, Niranjan Behera.