Players Details
Fixture & Results
Changes on cards against Tripura
13th January 2018
Bengal will want to keep their unblemished run against Tripura in the third match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at Jharkhand tomorrow.
Tripura may not be the strongest side in the meet, but after facing reverses against Jharkhand in the first match they have come back strongly against Assam. With professional players like Smit Patel, Yashpal Singh and Gurinder Singh showing good form and Udiyan Bose and Sen Choudhury finding their feet they will be upbeat to cause an upset.
Talking about the Bengal team’s combination for tomorrow, Coach Sairaj Bahutule said: “We have had a good run of matches and need to play well two more matches to qualify. So we don’t want to take any chances and bring about big changes in the side. Having said that we might opt for one or two changes in the playing eleven tomorrow. All that will however also depend the pitch and conditions also.”
He then went on to add: “They have troubled us in the past and we would be foolish to take them lightly. In a T20 game anything can happen and we want to be safe than sorry.”
Asked if team’s bowling needed to be improved, he said: “Yes may be by 10 to 15 per cent. But you see in the first six overs there has been a rush of runs, but then we have come back. In the match against Jharkhand we also gave a few more runs than needed in the middle overs. The bowlers have discussed it among themselves and I am sure they will do much better tomorrow.”
Bengal will depend on the top order to give them the burst they require whether they bat first or second. The fact that Manoj Tiwary is among wickets is a huge bonus for the team. And most importantly winning is a habit and Bengal seems to have inculcated the good habit of winning it all in the shortest format on the 22-yards.
CAB MEDIA DESK
Arindam Basu