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[caption id="attachment_25208" align="alignnone" width="580"] Ashoke Dinda took five wickets against Punjub to become the highest wicket taker as Pacer for Bengal on Saturday. File Picture[/caption] Internet Desk: It was double delight for Bengal pacer Ashoke Dinda as he took 5 wickets against Punjab to give Bengal a crucial 133 runs lead in Ranji Trophy Group- A clashon Saturday at Lohnu in Bilaspur. Bengal in their second innings has scored 182/5. Captain Manoj Tiwary is batting on 61 runs along with Shreevats Goswami who is on 23*. Bengal is already 315 runs ahead with 5 wickets in hand and a day to go.

Dinda is now the highest wicket taker as a fast bowler for Bengal in first class cricket. He went past his former team mate Ranadeb Bose who took 317 first class wickets.

Only left-arm spinners Utpal Chatterjee (504 wickets) and Bengal legend Dilip Doshi (898 wickets) have more first class wickets than Dinda.

In fact Doshi's wickets also comprises of his 100 plus Test victims, his wickets for Saurashtra and a bagful in county cricket for Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire. A relaxed Dinda spoke to xtratime.in from Bilaspur after the 3^rd days play. “It’s a huge milestone for me. It is a nice feeling to go past Ranadeb da. I must say it is not easy for a pacer in the country to carry on playing for 10 years at a stretch.” The fast bowler from Midnapore who made his first class debut for Bengal in 2005 against Maharashtra at Pune has come a long way. “Now when I look back, I could not believe myself to have come this far, specially coming from a background like mine.” Dinda also credited his childhood coach Atal Dey Burman on reaching the milestone. According to Dinda,” I must thank my Sir for all that he had done in shaping my career.” Asked to comment about his bowling partner Amit Kuila who too had a 5 wicket haul in the match, he said, “He is very hard working. The good thing about him is he is never shy about learning from the seniors. He also reminded me when I was young. If he looks after his fitness, he can go on to play for a long time for Bengal.” Lastly talking about the situation the match is now poised, an aggressive Dinda commented, “We should always go for 6 points. The decision to declare entirely depends upon coach and captain. But as a senior bowler in the side I can say we all are ready to have a go at them in the second innings too.”

Debutant Amit Kuila also had a match haul of five wickets. It was Kuila who gave Bengal the first breakthrough today morning, getting rid of overnight batsman Uday Kaul caught by Manoj Tiwary for 77 runs.

Dinda, who opened his account yesterday by getting Yuvraj Singh caught behind by Sreevats Goswami for 22 runs, added to his tally by getting Taruwar Kohli leg before for 26 runs. Punjab was 178/6.

Kuila again gave his side a breakthrough as he went on to take his fifth wicket of the match making it a memorable one for him. The lanky pacer from Kharagpur had Vinay Chwdhury caught by Sayan Sekhar Mondal for 8 runs.

The next three wickets were picked by Dinda. The India pacer had Siddharth Kaul bowled for 3 runs. The next batsman who fell prey to Dinda’s bowling was Gitansh Khera who was caught at slips by Sudip Chatterjee for 38 runs. The last man to go was Manpreet Singh Grewal who was bowled by Dinda for a duck, giving him his 18th 5 wicket haul in his first class career.

Dinda’s spell read as 22.3-6-58-5. Kuila returned with 25-5-76-5. Punjab got dismissed for 271 runs in 81.3 overs, giving Bengal a lead of 133 runs.

Bengal did not have the greatest of starts as both Sayan Sekhar Mondal and Abhimanyu Easwaran were shown their way back to the pavilion with the score on 52 runs. First innings centurion Sayan Sekhar Mondal scored 18 runs while Easwaran managed only 25 runs. Sidharth Kaul inflicted both dismissals as both of them were dismissed in a similar fashion caught by Gitansh Khera. Sudip Chatterjee did not last long either as the left hander was bowled by Vinay Choudhary for 6 runs. Bengal lost their fourth wicket at 99 runs with Agniv Pan (12) caught by Khera of the bowling of Grewal. Pankaj Shaw who scored a half century in the first innings was bowled by Siddharth Kaul for 29 runs. Captain Manoj Tiwary held fort at one end to remain not out on 61 runs. Tiwary played some exquisite strokes in his 86 ball knock that had 7 boundaries and a six. Bengal at stumps on Day 3 has scored 182/5.

 

Brief Score: Bengal 404 all out, 182/5,( Manoj Tiwary 61* Ashoke Dinda 5/58, Amit Kuila 5/76)

Punjab 271 all out, (Uday Kaul 77).(Siddharth Kaul 3/30).