Calcutta: Laxmi Ratan Shukla believes his 151 off 96 balls at the Eden, on Friday, will rank as one of his best innings.

“It was one of my best innings. Overall, I’m happy with the way I played. It feels great,” said the all-rounder.

Having failed with the bat this season, Shukla had been under pressure to deliver. Not one to shy away from challenges, he chose the right occasion. That he had to take guard in the second over after Sourav Ganguly’s departure, hardly made any difference.

He seemed undaunted by the circumstances, and whatever little challenge the Jharkhand bowlers threatened to pose, vanished into thin air. He made the 281-run target look easy as the hosts cruised to a seven-wicket victory.

The former Bengal captain said batting at No.3 helped him a lot. “The opportunity is always more when you bat at No.3. You get to bat more overs … That helped.

“I’ve scored centuries when I opened the innings during my early days. So it was not something I’ve never faced… I was waiting for this opportunity… At the end of the day I’m available wherever the team wants me to bat,” Shukla said.

Does he think he has answered his critics with this innings? “No… I didn’t think it as a challenge… Praise and criticism are part of life… Overall, the team is doing well and we’re happy with the performance.”

Coach Woorkeri Raman was lost for words. “The feeling is obviously good when you see such entertaining innings and the team wins… Outstanding…”

Ishank Jaggi felt Shukla’s innings took away the game from them. “A total of 280 was good on this wicket. But you could hardly do anything the way Shukla batted,” said the centurion.