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Madhya Pradesh quicks hasten Bengal collapse on grass

Madhya Pradesh played most of their Ranji Trophy league games on turning tracks where off-spinner Jalaj Saxena (46 wickets) and left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma (32 wickets) flourished. The fast bowlers in the team were mostly to take the shine off the ball.

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Madhya Pradesh’s Ishwar Pandey appeals against a Bengal batsman during his side’s Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at CCI in Mumbai on Thursday
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Madhya Pradesh played most of their Ranji Trophy league games on turning tracks where off-spinner Jalaj Saxena (46 wickets) and left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma (32 wickets) flourished. The fast bowlers in the team were mostly to take the shine off the ball.

So, when the seaming trio of Ishwar Pandey, Chandrakant Sakure and Puneet Datey saw a tinge of grass on the Brabourne Stadium pitch, it might have brought them a sense of joy as well as some relief.

On seeing the 'true wicket' Manoj Tiwary's Bengal seamers got carried away and struggled to bowl a good line on Wednesday – Day One of the quarterfinals. Eventually, they conceded 348 runs before they could bowl out MP.

Having learnt from the mistakes of their opponents, the MP trio perfectly executed plans of sticking to a tight line and displayed some good seam and swing bowling that saw them fold out Bengal for a meagre 121 in 45.2 overs.

In their second innings, MP, who did not enforce a follow-on, were 14/0 with Aditya Shrivastava (10*) and Jalaj Saxena (4*) at the crease.

It was the experience Pandey, who led the show with a four-wicket haul while Sakure and Datey took three apiece with with pace.

The trio produced a good exhibition of seam and swing bowling. If the tall Pandey brought the ball in and out at a decent pace, troubling the batsman with the lateral movement, then Datey and Sakure exploited the conditions by seaming it off the wicket at a rapid pace.

Pandey got the scalps of skipper Tiwary (3) and Test wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha (0) in successive overs. Tiwary, the stylish batsman, nicked one to No. 2 Test wicket-keeper Naman Oha while playing off the front foot. Later, Saha failed to read an incoming delivery that trapped him in front of the wickets. Then, Pandey dismissed Pragyan Ojha (8) and Veer Pratap Singh (0) to complete his four-wicket haul.

The other two seamers Datey and Sakure managed to get the rest of the wickets.

Only three Bengal batsmen managed to reach the double figures – A Easwaran (48), Shreewats Goswami (22) and Ashoke Dinda (21).

Earlier in the day, Bengal seamer VP Singh got a fiver and Dinda three to fold out MP for 348.

"After a long time we got to bowl on a good wicket. The plan was to stick to one line and swing the ball which we did," said Pandey.

"We played most of our matches on turning track hence got very little opportunity to bowl since spinners were doing all the job. But before coming here we had practiced in Surat on a similar track hence it was a bit easy to execute," he added.

Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh (o/n 254/4) 348 all out in 114.5 overs (A Shrivastava 65, N Ojha 64, D Bundela 58, H Singh 51; A Dinda 3/85, VP Singh 5/76) & 14/0 in 6 overs vs Bengal 121 all out in 45.2 overs (A Easwaran 48, S Goswami 22, A Dinda 21; I Pandey 4/45, P Datey 3/30, C Sakure 3/38)
 

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