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Bhubaneswar, Nov 22: A spinning pitch at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground in Kalyani, approximately 60km away from Kolkata awaits Orissa when they take on hosts Bengal in a crucial Group A Ranji Trophy encounter beginning Monday. Bengal are currently in fifth position with 19 points in the nine-team group while Orissa are one place behind with 12 points.
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This is a match between friends who will turn foes for the four days. Players of both sides regularly represent East Zone together and the last time East won the Duleep Trophy was under the leadership of present Orissa captain Natraj Behera. That group had the likes of Manoj Tiwary and Ashok Dinda to name a few rubbing shoulders with the likes of Basant Mohanty and Govind Poddar. So both sides are well aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
Moreover, there will also be the Pragyan Ojha factor, who was born in Orissa and will be playing against the state for the first time and Bengal will depend heavily upon the left-arm spinner to deliver the goods. A win for Bengal, will certainly propel them towards qualifying for the quarterfinal knockout stage.
The good thing for Orissa however, is that their batsmen have finally found some form prior to the game against Bengal. In the last game against Haryana, skipper Natraj got a double hundred and Ranjit Singh a century. Govind Poddar has also been in very good form throughout the season and as a result, they will definitely start on par with the hosts.
The advantage for Orissa however, will be that of the alleged rift existing between main strike bowler Dinda and skipper Tiwary. It has been said that Dinda is unhappy at the way his captain has been handling him and the dressing room atmosphere is not exactly ‘happy’ for the hosts. Orissa should take advantage of this ‘disharmony’, if they can.
The plus point for Bengal, however, is the form of AR Easwaran and Sudip Chatterjee at the top of the order. Sudeep already has got four centuries this season and the left-hander has been batting with supreme confidence. In fact, in the last game against Maharashtra, seven of the first eight batsmen got at least 50-plus scores which bode well for the hosts.
Keeping this in mind, the likes of Basant Mohanty and Suryakant Pradhan will have to do early damage if Orissa are to wrest the initiative.
This has been a season of upsets – with Assam defeating teams like Delhi and Maharashtra. But then Orissa have also beaten Assam and there is no reason as to why they can’t come up with a stunner against Bengal once more.
M W D L P
Bengal 6 1 5 0 19
Orissa 6 1 4 1 12
