Bengal has a chance to win Ranji Trophy after three decades, Saurashtra will face a tough challenge
In-form Bengal will look to become champions after 33 years by winning the Ranji Trophy final, starting here on Thursday, but will have to overcome a stiff challenge from a Saurashtra team strengthened by the return of Jaydev Unadkat. . Bengal will not only be hungry for a win but will also look to exact their revenge. Bengal had made it to the Ranji final in 2020 but were then beaten by Saurashtra on first-innings lead in Rajkot.
These two teams will again put up a tough challenge against each other but this time the match will be at Eden Gardens where Bengal last won the title in 1990. The Bengal team is strong in both the batting and bowling departments. They have players like opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed and fast bowler Mukesh Kumar who are in excellent form. Fast bowler Akashdeep has played an important role in taking Bengal to the final.
He has so far taken 37 wickets in nine matches while youngster Sudeep Gharami has scored 789 runs and is the second highest run-scorer for the team. Bengal’s strength in recent times has been the fast bowling department and Akashdeep, Ishan Porel and Mukesh Kumar will look to leave no stone unturned in the final. Saurashtra, however, have been strengthened by the return of Unadkat.
Abhimanyu, Bengal’s highest run scorer of 790 so far, Anustup Majumdar, Gharami and captain Manoj Tiwary will have to play cautiously in front of Unadkat. Tiwari, who is also the state’s sports minister, needs 167 runs to complete 10,000 runs in first-class cricket. In this season, however, he has been able to score only 398 runs so far. Tiwari said that his team will not hit the ground with the aim of exacting revenge.
He said, “We do not want to use this word. To achieve this, we definitely have to defeat them. After the win, we can say that we have paid our revenge.” As far as Saurashtra are concerned, left-arm seamer Unadkat and Chetan Sakaria are their trump cards. It will not be easy for the Bengal batsmen to face them on the grass pitch of Eden Gardens. Unadkat made it clear that it will not be easy for Bengal to register a win on the basis of their bowlers on a pitch favorable for fast bowlers. He said, “If their bowlers are a challenge to our batsmen, then our bowlers will also present a challenge to their batsmen.
