CALCUTTA (India): Bengal will hope to seal a berth in the final after 13 years when they take on Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy semifinal here on Saturday.
Bengal have not made the final since 2006-07 when Deep Dasgupta-led side finished runners-up for the second consecutive season.
Their last title came way back in 1989-90 which was also current BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s first-class debut season.
“For Bengal, it’s like a final. Karnataka not have a strong battling line-up, but also possess an experienced bowling attack. Their fast bowlers can be dangerous on the green patch,” said Bengal’s spin consultant Utpal Chatterjee.
On the other hand, eight-time winners Karnataka have remained consistent and are playing their third consecutive semis.
Under coach Arun Lal, Bengal have done well collectively and will look to exploit the home advantage over the next few days.
They won back-to-back away matches against Rajasthan and Punjab to seal a last-eight berth where they edged out Odisha in Cuttack.
Manoj Tiwary leads the team’s batting chart with 651 runs from nine matches at an average of 59.18, which includes a maiden triple century against Hyderabad.
However, the key to Bengal’s success has been the middle and lower batsmen’s consistency.
Antustup Majumdar, who rescued the team from a precarious situation with a career-best 157 in the quarterfinal, and wicketkeeper batsman Shreevats Goswami have shown good form.
Rookie all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed has impressed with the bat, scoring 427 runs while also becoming the side’s most successful wicket taker (30 wickets at 15.00 average) with his left arm orthodox spin.
“Who knows where he will end up but he is one for the future,” Lal said of Shahbaz.
In the absence of Ashok Dinda, the pace department has been a revelation with Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar sharing 46 wickets between them while Ishan Porel has 15 scalps to his name.
“Our pacers have been impressive. Akash just blew away Punjab. The entire team is performing well,” said Lal.
Akash, who missed the quarterfinal due to a niggle, is set to be back at the expense of Nilkantha Das.
It will be an interesting battle between the Bengal pacers and the likes of KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Manish Pandey and 19-year-old Devdutt Padikkal.
SQUADS
Bengal: Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Manoj Tiwary, Anustup Majumdar, Shreevats Goswami (wk), Sudip Chatterjee, Abhishek Raman, Koushik Ghosh, Arnab Nandi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Agniv Pan, Ishan Porel, Shreyan Chakraborty, Nilkantha Das, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Golam Mustafa.
Karnataka: Karun Nair (captain), KL Rahul, R Samarth, Devdutt Padikkal, Manish Pandey, Sharath Srinivas (wk), Shreyas Gopal, K Gowtham, Abhimanyu Mithun, Prasidh Krishna, J Suchith, Prateek Jain, Ronit More, BR Sharath.
