Kolkata: Manoj Tiwary’s Bengal have beaten Maharashtra in a thriller by 4 wickets at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, New Delhi on Wednesday. Former India skipper and CAB President Sourav Ganguly was seen very happy with Bengal’s performance.
“You give just two more years to this side. Everyone will see what they are capable off. If we can find out a few more talented players you will see a transformed Bengal side, who are more aggressive and more positive on the field,” said Sourav.
It was Bengal’s biggest run chase ever, as they surpassed Maharashtra’s score of 318 runs with one ball to spare. Ganguly lauded the character of the players too,” This is a huge achievement and I think our boys will perform well in next two knock-out matches too.”
Sourav will be in Delhi with the team to give them some pep-talks before the semi-final match.
Sourav praised Vision 20-20 project for this results. He said,” If you follow a process, the results will come automatically. Earlier we had two days league matches but now it is played for three days. You are playing first class matches which is played for four days and here in club cricket the players were playing for just two days, anyone can understand no players will come out in this process. You have to study hard to get good marks in the Madhyamik exam, as there is no shortcut for success.”
Bengal has won their last 14 out of 15 matches, which is a great run by any side. Sourav praised Manoj’s side for their great performance, ”Bengal always performed well in first-class cricket. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t play the Ranji match against Gujarat due to massive fog at Delhi and We lost a close match against Baroda at Lahli. If we had won those two matches the results in Ranji Trophy could have been much different,” said Ganguly.
Sourav was a bit surprised about Dhoni led Jharkhand played their quarter-final match at Airforce Complex Ground, Palam, New Delhi as it is open from all the sides and Dhoni’s security might get hampered in these types of places. When Jharkhand team was in Kolkata they didn’t practice at the Jadavpur University ground due to Dhoni’s security issue. They only played a match at Jadavpur with proper security measures. Dhoni and his team also practiced at the Eden Gardens and Kalyani with proper security. According to Sourav,” Jharkhand should have played their matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla with proper security,”.