Bengal batsmen wallop Punjab pacers

IT WAS going to be a battle of attrition and Bengal won all the rounds on Day Two to occupy the driver's seat in this Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match against Punjab on Sunday.

Their primary task was to pluck out the last three wickets which came in 14 overs with the addition of 31 runs to Punjab's overnight total of 210 for seven.
The batsmen then had to apply themselves on a wicket offering significant seam movement and openers Anustup Majumdar and Arindam Das surpassed all expectations by putting together 194 runs. Bengal ended the day at 231 for one, assured of first-innings lead at least.

Both batsmen had scored hundreds in the previous game and this time, Majumdar lost the opportunity to notch up another, poking at Gagandeep Singh's away-swinger while on 99. Das was there on 93 at stumps with debutant Soham Ghosh on 12. No doubt the batsmen did well, but they were helped enormously by some unimaginably bad bowling, particularly by India discard VRV Singh.

From a pitch where the Bengal medium-pacers extracted remarkable movement and bounce even with the old ball, Punjab's pace battery failed miserably. Gagandeep Singh and VRV hardly beat the outside edge in their opening spells, though the former at least was trying to make the batsmen play.

VRV lost the plot early and looked completely out of sorts in the 14 overs he bowled, straying well outside off and leg, thereby making life miserable for the wicketkeeper, who had to throw himself on either side every now and then. He bowled 10 no-balls and there were many which would have been called wide in the limited-over format.

Das and Majumdar had no problem settling down, leaving the ball most of the time, while the latter was quick to pounce on the loose ones, particularly on the off side. With the ball coming on to the bat, his driving was flawless and reached the fence facing minimum trouble with most of the fielders awaiting edges behind the stumps.

With two days to go and the hard work done, Bengal should think that they can build on this platform on Day Three to press for an outright win on the final day. It will be a big comeback by a team, which surrendered meekly against Baroda in the previous match and a forgettable outing for Punjab, who had done reasonably well before this one.

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