Continuing the trend that saw 20 wickets falling on the opening day, the BCA ground at Kalyani saw a repeat of the incident but on a hastier note on Tuesday. Bengal, beginning on the overnight score of 23, Bengal scored 135 in the second innings to offer a target of 171 runs to the visitor.
With more than two days remaining in the match, Odisha failed to make anything of the advantage and was wiped out for a paltry 37 runs, before it could nurture the thought of overhauling the target. Bengal earned a 133-run win prompting the humiliated visitor to lodge a official complain with the national governing body of the sport – Board of Control for Cricket in India - about the host offering them a underprepared wicket.
Bengal, which scored 142 in the first innings, rode on the contributions of Abhimanyu Easwaran (39), Sudip Chatterjee (37) and captain Manoj Tiwary (35) to reach 103 for four before suffering a sudden collapse where the remainder of the team was gone in the next 32 runs. While the first day belonged to the spinners, the second day sided with the pacers as Basant Mohanty picked up five Bengal wickets giving away 16 runs to hasten the latter’s fall.
Taking the cue from his opposition counterpart, former India pacer Ashoke Dinda produced a deadlier effect and finished Odisha’s resistance almost singlehandedly. The Bengal striker bowler ended with figures of 10-0-19-7 as Odisha was bowled out for 37. Arabind Singh and Jayanta Behera were joint top scorers with seven runs that signified the plight of the visitor’s batting. Apart from Dinda, Bengal used another bowler, Pragyan Ojha, who scalped the remaining three wickets.
“It was unpredictable on the first day but turned into a dangerous pitch today and unnerved the young batsmen in my team. Whatever be the result such a pitch cannot be good for the game of cricket,” said the Odisha captain Natraj Behera after his team’s defeat. “We have submitted an official complain to the match referee about the nature of the pitch,” he added. Match referee Shakti Singh of Himachal Pradesh acknowledged the complaint from Odisha and said that he will pass it on to the appropriate office in BCCI.
“The pitch was difficult but not underprepared. We scored more runs on both innings as our batsmen showed better application, which our opponent could not show,” said the Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary.
The scores:
Bengal - 1st innings: 142.
Odisha - 1st innings: 107
Bengal - 2nd innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran lbw b Mohanty 39, Sayan Sekhar Mondal c Halhadhar Das b Pradhan 3, Sudip Chatterjee c Sarangi b Mohanty 37, Manoj Tiwary c Singh b Mohanty 35, Shreevats Goswami c Sarangi b Dhiraj Singh 0, Pankaj Shaw c Poddar b Dhiraj Singh 0, Pramod Chandila lbw b Mohanty0, Aamir Gani lbw b Mohanty 4, Pragyan Ojha (run out) 0, Ashok Dinda st Halhadhar Das b Behera0, Anurag Tiwari (not out) 0, Extras (b-2, lb-12, nb-3): 17; Total (in 55.2 overs): 135
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-62, 3-102, 4-103, 5-103, 6-110, 7-118, 8-135, 9-135.
Odhisha bowling: Suryakant Pradhan 10-5-25-1, Jayanta Behera 8.2-0-29-1, Pratik Das 2-0-4-0, Dhiraj Singh 18-6-47-2, Basant Mohanty 17-9-16-5.
Odisha - 2nd innings: Ranjit Singh c Chandila b Dinda 1, Natraj Behera c Easwaran b Dinda 5, Arabind Singh b Ojha 7, Govinda Poddar c Tiwary b Ojha 2, Anurag Sarangi c Easwaran b Dinda 4, Pratik Das b Dinda 0, Halhadhar Das c Easwaran b Dinda 1, Suryakant Pradhan lbw b Dinda 1, Jayanta Behera (not out)7, Basant Mohanty c & b Dinda0, Dhiraj Singh c Chatterjee b Ojha 5; Extras (b-4): 4; Total (in 19.2 overs): 37.
Fall of wickets 1-2, 2-13, 3-15, 4-17, 5-19, 6-20, 7-21, 8-22, 9-22.
Bengal bowling: Ashok Dinda 10-0-19-7, Pragyan Ojha 9.2-4-14-3.
Result: Bengal 6, Odisha 0
