Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Kolkata
Newly-appointed national selector RP Singh is at Eden Gardens for the Bengal-Gujarat Ranji Trophy match. National selectors can’t go everywhere because each round in the Elite division has 16 games. They have to pick and choose. Sometimes, they are more interested in watching those who could be in national reckoning. Looking at the players of the two teams in this Elite Group fixture, there is only one who is closely followed. There is no doubt about his ability. The selectors want to see what kind of condition he is in.
Mohammed Shami didn’t disappoint the 100-odd who had turned up on Day 2 of this game. Bengal resumed at 244/7 and got bowled out for 279 in a further 8.4 overs. Batting at No. 10, Shami remained not out on eight. Ball in hand, he was a different kettle of fish. Used in spells of five, three and six overs, the senior fast bowler started with three maidens. On a day truncated by rain and bad light, his figures were 14-6-34-2. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed took four for 17 to reduce Gujarat to 107/7, but it was Shami who drew all the attention.
The top four in this Gujarat line-up are left-handers. Shami went around the wicket straightaway unlike his new-ball partner Akash Deep, who followed suit after two overs. Shami was getting the ball to deviate off the pitch back into the batters and asking questions constantly in his opening spell. Getting the line right with this plan was important, for he had to land the ball outside off stump. Anything on the stumps could be played on the leg-side with the inward movement. Shami got it wrong just once in the first five overs.
There was one pushed straight and wide for variation, but it was the stock ball that did the damage. Abhishek Desai spent 17 balls without scoring before being trapped leg-before by a delivery that jagged back a long way. No. 3 Siddharth Desai was deceived by one that didn’t cut back that much. It was a shade outside off and moved marginally to hit the off stump, with the batter playing inside the line. The bowler didn’t look as if he was suffering from the after effects of the treatment his knee and ankle needed in the past, which recently prompted chief selector Ajit Agarkar to say that they were monitoring his physical condition..
Shami could have had another in between these two had Anustup Majumdar at second slip not floored a head-high chance. This was bowled wide and Manan Hingrajia threw his bat at it after being kept quiet for a while. It was a regulation chance dropped by the most experienced player of the Bengal team. The Gujarat captain was on one and the total was 16/2. Bating at No. 4, Hingrajia ended the day unbeaten on 41 off 163 balls. The going was painstaking and Gujarat crawled at 2.00 runs per over. The yet unbroken eight-wicket partnership of 11 between Hingrajia and Chintan Gaja came off 62 balls.
Bengal’s biggest concern is not Gujarat’s ability to resist. There is a cyclone alert on Tuesday, the last day of the match. It was overcast on Sunday and only 62.1 overs could be bowled. On Day 1, 18 overs were lost due to bad light. Weather permitting, the home team would like to wrap up the Gujarat innings as early as they can on Monday to ensure the three points that come with a first-innings lead. After six points from their win in the first match, that appears to be the best they can garner from this one.
Brief scores: Bengal 279 (Sumanta Gupta 61, Sudip Gharami 56, Abishek Porel 51, Siddharth Desai 4/69). Gujarat 107/7 (Manan Hingrajia batting 41, Shahbaz Ahmed 4/17, Mohammed Shami 2/34).
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