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Kolkata: Following a gap of 10 days the Bengal cricketers practiced for the first time on Thursday ahead of their Ranji Trophy Group A clash against Tamil Nadu. The tie will take place from Sunday at the Rajkot Municipal Ground.

Manoj Tiwary and his team had a rigorous practice session at the Municipal Ground in the morning. They practiced for almost 6 hours from 9 am to 2.30 pm at Rajkot Municipal Ground. According to sources in the Bengal team, they faced a lot of problem as Rajkot cricket association officials forgot to allot them a practice ground as they were tied up with the India vs England test match. 

Bengal coach Sairaj Bahutule did not look too concerned about the players staying away from cricket for the last 10 days. According to Bahutule, “This is a part of life, we couldn’t play the game due to smog at Delhi and we are now looking forward to our game against Tamil Nadu on Sunday. The boys have practiced hard today after five days to get in shape before the game.”

On being asked about Bengal’s points table, Bahutule added,” We are not concerned about points table. Our aim is just to play good cricket throughout the season. We have 15 points in 3 matches and we will go to the field with positive mindset.”

According to Bengal coach they are not taking Tamil Nadu team lightly.

 “Tamil Nadu is a very powerful team in domestic cricket and they have quality players like Abhinav Mukund, Dinesh Kartik , Baba Aparajit and many others. We respect them as a team but our team will play fearless cricket and we will go to the field to win the game,” said Bahutule

Bengal is at the 5^th spot in Group A with 15 points from 3 matches.On the other hand Tamil Nadu are in the 2^nd place in the group with 17 points from 5 matches.

Meanwhile, Bengal opener Sayan Sekhar Mondal celebrated his birthday along with his teammates at the hotel.