Bengal take on Chhattisgarh at home, target first win in Ranji campaign


18th January 2024
Bengal will aim to bag their first win of the Ranji Trophy season when they take on Chhattisgarh at the Eden Gardens starting on Friday.
Ahead of the match, the Bengal camp was nostalgic and elated to find former Bengal all-rounder Avik Chowdhury coming to watch the practice session on Thursday.
Chowdhury, who met with a tragic car accident a decade ago, had played alongside Manoj Tiwary and Anushtup Majumdar.
The Bengal players wanted to meet their old colleague, whose career was cut short by an accident, and so on head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla's behest, Chowdhury was here at the Eden.
Happy to interact with the members of the Bengal team, Chowdhury said, "I came because coach Shukla asked me to come and meet the players. It was great to connect with the team and also the youngsters specially. I wish them the best for the match against Chhattisgarh and the entire tournament."
"Avik Chowdhury sharing his experience with the boys, especially the youngsters, is immensely valuable. The youngsters will surely take something positive out of his words," head coach Shukla said.
Skipper Tiwary said, "It was wonderful to have Chowdhury during the practice session. I hope his advice and talks will have a positive impact on the young players."
Having drawn their two games so far, the Shukla-coached side are currently placed in the fourth spot in the Elite Group B with four points.
After bagging just a point in their opening game against Andhra, Bengal put up a dominant show with the ball against Uttar Pradesh in the last match to bag first innings lead.
Despite missing star players like Abhimanyu Easwaran, Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar and Shahbaz Ahmed, the others in the team stepped up both with bat and ball in both the games so far.
Against Chhattisgarh at home, it will be no different as the hosts will be aiming to go all guns blazing to pocket their first win of the campaign and that too at home.
In the batting department, opener Sourav Paul, who scored a fine 96 in his debut match against Andhra, will be inching to score some more runs at home. His partner, Shreyansh Ghosh, who looked good against UP, will also aim to give Bengal a perfect start.
Sudip Kumar Gharami, coming in at No.3, will be raring to get back amongst the runs after his superb show with the bat last Ranji season.
The middle order will once again rely on the experienced Anustup Majumdar. The 39-year-old veteran batsman will aim to make it big once again after his fighting 125 in the campaign opener.
Skipper Manoj Tiwary will also hope to get runs under his belt in front of home fans at his farewell season.
Also, it will be a toss-up between batters Ranjot Singh Khaira and Subham Chatterjee for a debut spot in the team.
In the bowling department, the pace trio of Mohammad Kaif, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal and Ishan Porel, who bundled out UP for just 60, will aim to deliver once again with the ball at home turf.
"The game against Chhattisgarh will be crucial. We will aim for full points in the match. It was unfortunate, we couldn't get a result in the last match. So performing well against Chhattisgarh will be crucial," Manoj said.
On the other hand, Chhattisgarh will go into the match with 10 points from two games so far.
In the previous game, Chhattisgarh earned first innings lead after their match against Bihar ended in a draw.
The visitors' batsmen will have their confidence sky high after a good outing in the last game where Rishabh Tiwari and Ashutosh smashed centuries each.

CAB MEDIA DESK
Arindam Basu