Bengal eye maximum points
Times of India | 18 October 2024Bengal, under new skipper Anushtup Majumder, will be upbeat after bagging three points in their first match against Uttar Pradesh and will look to strengthen their qualification chances for the knockouts by winning maximum points against a struggling Bihar side which caved in within two days on way to suffering an innings defeat against Haryana in their last match.
More than the opposition, it is the weather that is keeping the Bengal camp a bit worried with prediction of sporadic rains likely to hamper action.
Bengal seemed to have found the remedy to their opening woes that kept troubling them last season with Sudip Chatterjee, making a comeback to the side after playing two seasons for Tripura, stitching together a good partnership with Abhimanyu Easwaran coming up the order. Both the Bengal openers got centuries in the first match and coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla will look for another good start from the duo. Easwaran, who is on a roll getting four tons in his last four first-class matches, will love to make his 100th first-class match memorable by piling up more runs to stake his claim as a reserve opener in the India squad for the series Down Under next month. Incidentally the right-handed opener hit an unbeaten 200 against Bihar in February this year.
The team management will look for more meaningful contribution from the middle order consisting skipper Majumder, wicketkeeper-batter Abhishek Porel, Wriddhiman Saha and Shahbaz Ahmed after they collapsed in the last match.
Bengal, however, might have to go for some forced changes as Saha is doubtful with back spasms. In case the former India wicketkeeper fails to recover, Avlin Ghosh or Shuvam Dey might get a look in. There is also a thought about resting pacer Mukesh Kumar to keep him fresh for the tougher challenges ahead. Rookies Rohit Kumar or Rishav Vivek can make debut joining the pace brigade of Mohammed Kaif and Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal.
It remains to be seen whether Writtick Chatterjee will get another chance after a below par show in the last match as Pradipta Pramanik and Aamir Gani wait for their opportunities.
Bihar, on the other hand, will be led by Veer Pratap Singh, who played a good part of his cricket for Bengal once. The right-arm pacer remains the team’s only experienced player and much will depend on his shoulders to help Bihar at least make a match out of it.
