Rajkot , December 16 : Bengal will face Madhya Pradesh in a do or die match on Thursday in Rajkot. Having lost their last couple of matches against Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh , Manoj Tiwary and his team have to win against Madhya Pradesh to stay in the tournament . Bengal is languishing at the fifth place in league table and they have to win their next two matches by a bigger margin to qualify for the quarters. Apart from winning their last two league matches they will also have to rely on other teams in the group for favourable results.
For Madhya Pradesh Naman Ojha is in good form and has scored a century against UP. Bengal got off to a great start in the tournament beating Goa by 6 wickets. But since then have failed to replicate the form resulting in successive losses against Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Bengal have to rely a lot on captain Manoj Tiwari and pacer Ashoke Dinda. Dinda who was in red hot form in the Ranji trophy is yet to fire .
Coach Sairaj Bahutule sounds positive tough ,”I tried to inspire the boys. This team have the potential to come back from a difficult position. I am hoping for a positive result against Madhya Pradesh ”
There could be a couple of changes in the Bengal squad . Abhimanyu Eswaran could come in place of SS Mondal while Mukesh Kumar have to make way for Aamir Gani .