Bengal dig Deep as Powar-play starts

MUMBAI: Thirty six-time champions Mumbai look like they have one hand firmly on the Ranji Trophy at the end of a day in which Bengal seemed to have got a part of their act right.

A five-wicket haul by Ranadeb Bose and some solid batting by skipper Deep Dasgupta ensured that Bengal had their best day in office in the Ranji Trophy final. But going by the five overs Ramesh Powar bowled towards the end of the day, it looks the off-spinner will be a handful on the Wankhede wicket that is increasingly subscribing to spin.

Powar, who got good returns on this Wankhede wicket, trapped Abhishek Jhunjhunwala in front of his stumps and flighted the ball and made it dip and turn to make life difficult for Manoj Tiwari and Dasgupta, the two unbeaten batsmen at stumps.

Powar looks like the one who is going to be the key bowler when the teams lock horns on Day Four of this final. With four of the five selectors, including chairman Dilip Vengsarkar, watching this game, Powar who is still in with an outside chance of making it to the World Cup squad, has a golden opportunity.

Earlier, Bose struck telling blows to dismiss Wasim Jaffer, Amol Muzumdar and Ajit Agarkar to put brakes on a Mumbai batting line-up that could have punished Bengal further.

Then asked to chase 472 for victory, Dasgupta successfully negotiated the opening spells by Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar to ensure that Bengal were in the game when play begins on the morrow.

Bose started well dismissing Jaffer, caught off his own bowling during a first spell that was as accurate as it was economical. Sachin Tendulkar was not at his fluent best and was dropped twice, once by Saurav Sarkar off his own bowling.

Once Saurashish Lahari dismissed Tendulkar for the second time in this game, Muzumdar and Abhishek Nair stitched together a good partnership. But Bose came back in his second spell to dismiss Muzumdar, caught brilliantly by Manoj Tiwary at gully. Later, Bose dismissed Agarkar and then castled last man Zaheer Khan, while Sarkar chipped in with three wickets.

Dasgupta batted with patience. He did the bulk of the scoring in the opening partnership with Arindam Das. He left alone deliveries leaving him and played late. He was particularly happy to see Agarkar running in as he found the boundaries on more than one occasion off the medium pacer. Zaheer bowled with intent, but failed to break through.

Mumbai will first have to break down the resilience of this Bengal team. Dasgupta, is a dogged batsman and Tiwari has the class and strokes to pose problems. And next in line to walk up to the wicket is Sourav Ganguly. While the other two superstars — Tendulkar and Zaheer — have had their magical moments, Ganguly still awaits his time in the sun.

Scorecard

Mumbai, 1st innings: 320
Bengal, 1st innings: 143

Mumbai, 2nd innings:

S Kukreja c Dasgupta b Bose           5
W Jaffer c and b Bose                53
R Sharma b Dinda                     57
W Mota c Dasgupta b Sarkar           15
S Tendulkar c Tiwary b Lahiri        43
A Muzumdar c Tiwary b Bose           37
A Nair c Dasgupta b Sarkar           34
R Powar c Ganguly b Sarkar            4
A Agarkar c Arindam Das b Bose        6
V Samant not out                      9
Zaheer Khan b Bose                   13

Extras (lb 4, nb 14)                 18
Total (all out; 80.3 overs)         294

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-113, 3-119, 4-160, 5-188, 6-257, 7-262, 8-269, 9-273

Bowling: R Bose 26.3-6-71-5, S Sarkar 14-2-54-3, A Dinda 25-6-70-1, S Lahiri 12-0-86-1, S Ganguly 3-0-9-0
 
Bengal, 2nd innings:

D Dasgupta not out             43
Arindam Das c Jaffer b Mota    10
A Jhunjhunwala lbw b Powar     20
M Tiwary not out               19

Extras (b 2, lb 1, nb 3)        6
Total (2 wickets; 32 overs)    98

Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-65

Bowling: A Agarkar 7-2-33-0, Zaheer Khan 9-3-26-0, W Mota 7-4-17-1, A Nair 3-1-3-0, R Powar 5-2-15-1, S Tendulkar
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