Bengal captain on the verge of a milestone
Kalyani: The first ball of the Ranji Trophy match between Bengal and Vidarbha is yet to be bowled, but the pitch of Kalyani has already made it to the headlines. In this scenario the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has send a letter to the BCCI where they raised questions on the jurisdiction of work of a neutral curator.
CAB President Sourav Ganguly too confirmed that they have sent a letter to the BCCI, but didn’t give any answer on what was written in the letter.” We have sent a letter to the BCCI but it is an internal matter of BCCI and CAB, and I won’t comment anything regarding this matter,” said Sourav.
The BCCI will keep a close watch on the Ranji Trophy Group D clash between Bengal and Vidarbha starting at Kalyani from tomorrow. The 22 yards at the Bengal Cricket Academy was the middle of controversy during the Ranji Trophy clash between Bengal and Odisha which lasted for only two and half days. The wicket at the venue was blacklisted along with the strip at Sourashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot.
The BCCI in order to ensure a sporting wicket has sent neutral curator SB Singh from Ranchi to oversee the preparations today. The local curator Sujan Mukherjee was told by Singh that he has been sent by BCCI to oversee the preparation of the wicket. Mr Mukherjee was seen seating at the sidelines at the BCA stadium
BCCI pitches and curator committee chairman Daljit Singh when contacted by xtratime.in said, “In our last technical committee meeting held in Kolkata, it was decided in the presence of BCCI technical committee chairman Sourav Ganguly that all the Ranji Trophy matches will be played on a sporting wicket.”
Anyone who visited the venue yesterday must have noticed the stark difference in the nature of the wicket. There was very little grass left compared to what was present yesterday to produce even support to the batsmen and bowlers.
“I wanted a wicket which will produce a good game of cricket for four days,” said Singh to the reporters in Kalyani.
Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary also looked unhappy with the wicket. Talking about the wicket, Manoj said, “We are not worried about the wicket at all. All I can say is we did not get the wicket we wanted. We have to rethink our strategy once again. Bottom line is to play well as a team in all the departments.”
Vidarbha coach Chandrakant Pandit feel, “Both the batsmen and bowlers will get help on this wicket for four days.”
The clash will be a battle to take the top spot in Group D. Bengal is currently placed in the third spot with 13 points from 3 matches while Vidarbha has pocketed 14 points from similar number of matches. Punjab is currently on top in the group with 15 points but they have played a match more.
Both teams will be missing their pace spearheads. Bengal will definitely miss the services of Md. Shami.
According to Manoj, “We will definitely miss him especially with the way he is dominating test cricket recently.”
The Bengal captain is in front of a milestone of becoming the first cricketer from Bengal to score 6000 runs in Ranji Trophy. He is just 91 runs short of the milestone.
“To be honest, I was not aware of it (milestone). I have never given much attention to personal milestones. All I am focussing now is scoring runs and leading from the front,” said Tiwary.
The match will be officiated by English umpire Martin James Sagger. The former Kent and England fast bowler is in India on an exchange programme. This will be his third Ranji Trophy match he will be standing as an umpire this season. The previous two matches were between Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu and the one in Pune between Karnataka and Maharshtra.