Sourav Ganguly to mentor Bengal in the Vijay Hazare semi-final

Jharkhand 1
Bengal will face Jharkhand in the second semi-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Friday. Image Source: XtraTime

Internet Desk: Former India skipper and CAB President Sourav Ganguly will be at the Airforce Complex Ground, as a mentor to help Bengal to overcome ‘Captain Cool’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Jharkhand in the second semi-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, at Delhi on Friday.

The high voltage semi-final match between the two Eastern sides will start from 9am. Though the match will not be telecasted live as Model Sports Complex in Palam doesn’t have any broadcast facilities.

After a nail biting victory over Kedar Jadhav’s Maharashtra in the last over of the game, Sourav is all set to become the mentor of Bengal, as he will meet skipper Manoj Tiwary and coach Sairaj Bahutule to give some tips about stopping Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

“Sourav has already discussed a few plans on how to tackle the Dhoni threat with Manoj and Sairaj. No doubt Dhoni is a formidable player but it’s not impossible to get him out. Dada will be meeting the team in the evening today and will also be present at the ground tomorrow,” a Bengal team source told the media on the condition of anonymity.

This is a young Bengal team and save Manoj Tiwary, Ashoke Dinda and Pragyan Ojha, who have all had IPL experience, others like rookie Kanishk Seth, Sayan Ghosh and Amir Gani have not played against Dhoni.

The former India captain has played all the matches since the league stage, having scored a century against Chattisgarh besides other significant contributions.

When skipper Tiwary was posed the question, he said: “This is a young Bengal team and they have learnt how to play according to the situation. MS Dhoni is a legend but, on the field, one can’t get intimidated by names.

“We have to stick to our plans and don’t forget they also have good players like Saurabh Tiwary, Ishan Kishan, Virat Singh. You cannot just concentrate on one player and have no plans for others,” Tiwary said.

Jharkhand fiery middle-order batsman Ishank Jaggi is confident before facing Bengal in the semi-final tomorrow.” We have already made our plans to stop Bengal. Our skipper MS Dhoni has already discussed about our game plan for tomorrow and we have to apply that on the field. In the last two seasons we have played well in all formats of the game and we want to carry that momentum tomorrow,” said Jaggi.

Jaggi is also eager to break the myth that Bengal is the best side from East Zone.” When you talk about East Zone, the first name comes on people’s mind is Bengal. We want to break that myth by beating them tomorrow in the semi-final,” added Jaggi.

While the Palam wicket will not be a belter like Kotla, toss may be an important factor in the morning in an open ground where there would be some seam and swing movement.

Both teams are expected to play the same XI unless there is some injury issues developing at the last moment.