Kolkata: The play on the first day of the CAB 1st Division League semi-final between arch rivals East Bengal and Mohun Bagan was interrupted due to a controversial run out decision at the JU campus in Salt Lake today.
East Bengal’s Arnab Nandy was controversially given run-out in the 33rd over, forcing the umpires to stop the play temporarily after East Bengal officials started arguing about the decision. East Bengal cricket secretary Sadananda Das was asked to leave the ground until the game re-started.
The East Bengal captain was controversially given run-out by on field umpire Sanjeev Pandey. Arnab was batting on 21 runs with Red and Golds under some sort of trouble with 93 runs on the board and almost half the side sent back to pavilion. A direct hit at the stumps by Wriddhiman Saha saw Arnab short of his ground.
Saha was the star attraction of the match today as he has been out for India duty followed by the Indian Premier League where he played for Kings XI Punjab.
But seasoned campaigner Subhojit Banerjee steadied the ship for East Bengal as he is still batting on 79 runs. At close of play East Bengal has scored 224/6 after 89 overs. For Mohun Bagan the successful bowlers were Rajkumar Pal (63/2) and Pritam Chakraborty (49/2) respectively.
According to Subhojit Banerjee, “We have suffered some terrible bad umpiring during the season. As far as the scores are concerned, I believe if we can add another 100 runs or more, it will be very difficult to chase. Playing shots on this wicket will get difficult as the ball is keeping low.
Mohun Bagan captain Subhamoy Das later said after the match, “It is unfortunate that seven minutes had to be lost. We have to respect umpire’s decision on the field. After all they are also human.”
Wriddhiman Saha, whose throw inflicted the run-out of Arnab said, “I reckon that was out as Arnab was short of his crease.”
In another semi final Bhowanipur club scored 244 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 88 overs against Town Club in Kalyani. Partha Sarathy Bhattacharya top scored with 69 runs along with Abhishek Das who scored 46 runs.
Brief Scores:
East Bengal – 224/6 Subhojit Banerjee (79*)
Mohun Bagan – Rajkumar Pal (63/2) and Pritam Chakraborty (49/2)