Internet Desk: After qualifying for the knock-out stages from Group D, Bengal is set to face defending champions Gujarat in the quarterfinals of the Ranji Trophy at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium from tomorrow.
Bengal gets a huge setback ahead of the quarters as they key left hand batsman Sudip Chatterjee won’t be a part of the squad as he is suffering from viral fevour. In his place young Saurabh Singh might make his debut against the defending champions. It won’t be an easy task for Bengal batsmen as Gujarat has the bowlers like RP.Singh, Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla who have represented the Indian team too. Though, Manoj will get the service of young pace bowling sensation Ishan Porel who has made a return to the squad after playing the Challengers Trophy. He was not a part of Bengal’s last group league game against Goa.
Speaking about the teams preparations and resolution for the match day the skipper said, “We have worked really hard during the league phase and whatever was decided during the team meeting be it the strategies, the basics or the improvements we stuck to it. I feel that is the reason we could come up to the quarterfinals and all we hope is to deliver to our best.”
He added, “As a captain I feel that consistency and determination is the key and all of us are gearing up to perform well. It is the team’s decision to refrain from putting extra pressure on the minds of the players and let them play their natural game so that we can get the best out of these cricketers. We want to make sure of the fact that these individuals play with extra baggage bothering their natural game play. We have done a good homework and are hopeful our hardwork and dedication will pay off.”
The Bengal team is hopeful to go through the paces and confidence reflects through their bearing after coming back strong into the knockouts through tough situations. The senior team has been at practise at full shift and dedication is all that reflects through their hardwork as the Bengal Captain said.
With the team combination being withheld at the discretion of the team management until tomorrow morning the Bengal coach said, “The preparations have been very good so far as the team has had a good practice at the nets. The team appears focused and is really looking forward to the match day. Gujarat is a good side and their performance is evidence to this. The entire team is really excited to deliver,” said the Bengal Coach, Sairaj Bahutuley.
When asked about tomorrow’s plan the skipper said,”Gujarat to mention the least has displayed good performance and consistency throughout the season and we are excited that we will be playing the defending champions of the last season. In this regard we wouldn’t like to underestimate our counterpart and expect for a good match and play good cricket. We feel that if we have to face them we have to be at our very best and that is all we are looking forward to.”