Kolkata: Chhattisgarh batters did not have to quite hang on for their dear lives, but some erratic Bengal bowling helped them to see through the last day, finishing at 214 for six as the Elite Group ‘B’ Ranji Trophy match at the Eden Gardens ended in a draw on Monday. As the first innings of both the sides could not be completed, the teams had to be happy with with one point each.
Lying fifth on the points table with five points after three consecutive drawn games, Bengal’s chances of making the knockout round became difficult as they next face Assam from Friday.
Weather did come into Bengal’s way of gaining a first-innings lead, but their bowlers too could not rise to the occasion to pick up eight wickets in the 83overs of play on the last day. Pacer Suraj Jaiswal, who ended with four for 29, bowled his heart out but did not get adequate support from the other end. Mohammed Kaif, who was impressive in the last match against Uttar Pradesh, fell short of expectation while the team management needs some serious rethinking about Ishan Porel’s performance.
Not only did Kaif and Porel fail to pick up wickets, they went for easy runs too to ease the pressure created by Jaiswal, who gave away just 29 runs in his 23 overs.
Ashutosh Singh’s gritty 88 from 240 balls helped Chhattisgarh put up a good resistance.
The team management, though, blamed the weather. “We missed out on vital playing time,” skipper Manoj Tiwary said after the match. “Not only almost the whole day was lost yesterday, an hour’s delay this morning deprived the bowlers the opportunity to bowl when the conditions remain most favourable for them at the Eden,” he added. Head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla also echoed the skipper’s view, but did not feel that Bengal could have declared earlier. “We never expected so much playing time to be lost. And you cannot take risk against any first-class side now with 300 or 320 runs on board,” he reasoned.
However, both Laxmi andTiwary are not losing hopes. “We still have four more games, so not all is lost,” Shukla stated.
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