Bengal and Madhya Pradesh are set to a face-off in the third quarterfinal of the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai from February 3. Both teams played through their skins during the league phase to keep themselves in reckoning for a place in the knockouts. MP sneaked past Gujarat on the net run-rate after pulling off an outright win with a bonus point against Andhra while Bengal claimed the No. 2 position by claiming crucial points on the basis a first innings lead against Assam in the last match of the league phase.
The teams will draw on the confidence of their performances in the league phase as they look to inch forward in the competition.
Speaking about his team, MP skipper Devendra Bundela said, “We have a balanced side - two spinners (Jalaj Saxena – 46 wickets, Ankit Sharma 32 wickets) - who are all-rounders and three medium pacers (led by Ishwar Pandey), so we have good team.”
Speaking about Pandey’s contribution, Bundela said, “In the last two games of the league, and then in one-dayers and T20s, he has bowled well. So we hope he will do well.
“We too have a good attack. We play on green top wickets so our strength is fast bowling,” he added while saying that the pitch seems like a sporting track. Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary too assessed that the wicket will assist the pacers more.
The MP captain also acknowledged that their opposition, Bengal too have a good attack comprising Ashoke Dinda and Pragyan Ojha. Bengal had performed consistently with Sudip Chatterjee being the top scorer while Dinda (31 wickets) and Ojha (33 wickets) testing the opposition. Reflecting on the performances of the seniors in the team which was key to their qualification, the Bengal skipper said, “Whenever senior players do well, it rubs off on to the juniors as well. It is important that we take extra bit of responsibility to go out there in a match and perform and do it consistently.
“We have been consistent this season except the innings lead that we conceded against Karnataka. We dominated the rest of the matches and got the points. That’s one of the plus points for all of us. Our bowlers, especially Dinda and Pragyan, have contributed a lot. Mukesh (Kumar) is the find of the season for Bengal and Veer (Pratap Singh) as well played a crucial role in few matches. Aamir Gani, the other spinner has done really well too. So our team looks balanced,” he elaborated.
“We have prepared really well. We had three quality (practice) sessions back in Kolkata as well, so all the boys are ready to play this match. They are determined and looking at this match as a big opportunity because most of the new guys, who are here are playing quarterfinal for the first time. So for them and for all of us it is a good opportunity to play. The idea is to play good cricket and achieve the targets we have set,” Tiwary said while talking about the team’s mind-set preparation.
Playing at the CCI, Bengal are also armed with the inputs of coach Sairaj Bahutule, also a former Mumbai player, Rohan Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly. Speaking about the former India captain’s inputs, Tiwary said, “Sourav said don’t take any extra pressure. In big matches, like in knockouts, the first one-two hours on the first day are important and that will set the tone of the match. That is how we are going to go about it. We have prepared well. Like I have always said, it’s about the execution on given day which will give the result.”
