Internet Desk: Bengal are in the driver’s seat against KSCA XI in the final of the Dr.(Capt.) K. Thimmappiah Memorial Tournament in Alur, Karnataka. KSCA XI won the toss today and elected to bat first in a wicket which was assisting both the spinners as well as pacers from Day 1.
KSCA XI had almost 8 senior players in the likes of Robin Uthappa, R. Samarth, Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Gopal from the Ranji Trophy team. But the Bengal bowlers had the upper hand from the fifth over of the match when youngster Ishan Porel got the wicket of R. Samarth who was caught behind for 16.
This was just the beginning of KSCA XI’s downfall as they lost wickets at regular intervals piling pressure on themselves. At one point of time KSCA were stumbling at 76 for the loss of 7 wickets losing all the batsmen of their star-studded batting line-up for single digit scores courtesy a magnificent spell from Ishan Porel (3-23) and Pragyan Ojha (2-37).
At some point it was felt that the home team will not be able to cross 100 runs mark but they rebuild the innings with Kazi Abrar (27 from 111 balls) and David Mathias (22 from 87 balls) slowly and gradually taking it above 100 run mark before Ashoke Dinda rattled the lower order of the KSCA batting line-up picking up three wickets and they got bundled for 130 in 59.3 overs.
Bengal were without the services of injured captain Manoj Tiwary who has been in fine form in the whole tournament as Pragyan Ojha led Bengal for the first time and did his job pretty well with the field placements and bowling changes.
Bengal came into bat and made a strong start courtesy an well made unbeaten 61 from 77 balls from opener Prasenjit Das hitting 11 boundaries and Abhimanyu Easwaran made a slow 18 from 84 balls without a single boundary before gifting his wicket to K. Gowtham through a LBW.
At stumps on Day 1, Bengal are 93 for 1 in 30 overs just trailing by 37 runs with Sudip Chatterjee (12 from 19 balls) giving well support to settled Prasenjit Das.
At the conclusion of Day 1, Pragyan Ojha said, “Our bowlers maintained a solid line and length throughout the innings to keep under a modest score of 200 in their home conditions. I am thankful to Dinda and other bowlers who partnered themselves each other well. This is a team effort.”
Regarding keeping any target on your mind, Pragyan said, “We do not have any such targets on our mind as we do not want give our batsmen any such pressure. I want them to bat free the whole day keeping mind every session is important. We want to each session to have the upper hand.”
Brief Scores: KSCA XI: 130/10 in 59.3 overs- Kazi Abrar 27*(111), Mayank Agarwal 26(76); Dinda: 3-41, Porel: 3-23, Ojha: 2-37
Bengal: 93/1 in 30 overs- Prasenjit Das 61*(77), Sudip Chatterjee 12*(19); K.Gowtham 1-16