Kolkata: It was a landmark match for Star Bengal pacer Ashoke Dinda against Chhattishgarh as he was playing his 100th first class game. Dinda made it more memorable by taking 10 wickets in just 47 runs and helped the side to take full seven points in their second group league game of Ranji Trophy 2017. It’s almost a record in cricket that a bowler took ten wickets in a match, but Dinda is not concerned about his personal achievements.
“I am not bothered about my personal achievements. The team has got full seven points and that is the most important thing for me. Now we want to win our first match at our home venue against Himachal Pradesh,” told Dinda while talking to www.xtratime.in
Last season Bengal started really well too but at the end they failed to continue their momentum. Dinda knows that really well.” We are not only thinking on one particular match, we are focusing on each seassion too. We are together on the field as well as in the dressing room and we will play more aggressive cricket from our side,” said Dinda.
On being asked what would be the most memorable match of his long career, Dinda said,” I played my first first-class match against Maharashtra back in 2005. I wouldn’t dream off that one day I will play 100th first-class game of my career. I have taken 10 wickets in a match only for five times in my career and one of them happened in my 100th first-class match. It’s a totally different feeling.”
India’s star pacer Mohammad Shami too took 8 wickets in the match for Bengal. His six-wicket haul was one of the key reasons for Bengal’s victory. But Shami looked more happy with Dinda’s performance.” It was a batsman friendly wicket, but he bowled really well in the first innings for us. His spell motivated me a lot to bowl well in the second innings, “said Shami.
Skipper Manoj Tiwary looked really with his team’s performance. Tiwary lauded his team’s performance after this emphatic win.
“It was not an easy wicket to bowl on. It was batting friendly and the bowlers really needed to work hard and reinvent themselves. We had decided last night that we will pull out all stops to wrap up the match and we did exactly that. This victory makes the match memorable. I am indebted to my team for playing so well. The batsmen piled up a mountain of runs and then the bowlers ran for two days to give us this victory,” skipper Manoj Tiwary said.
Asked when did he last bowl with such a cordon and that too on a wicket like this, he said:”Frankly I don’t remember. I think it was once against Assam when Ashoke was breathing fire.”