Madhya Pradesh captain Devendra Bundela gave the Manoj Tiwary-led outfit an unbelievable challenge for a place in the semifinals.
Bengal pacer Ashok Dinda has been playing first class cricket for almost 10 years. By his own admission, he has never seen a team set a mammoth target of 788, which he was a witness to on the fourth day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday.
Madhya Pradesh captain Devendra Bundela gave the Manoj Tiwary-led outfit an unbelievable challenge for a place in the semifinals.
Bengal have a mountain of 675 runs to climb on the last day with just seven wickets in hand. Even a draw against a disciplined MP attack will save Bengal's face after their embarrassing batting performance in the first innings.
Madhya Pradesh, who were 338/5 overnight with a 565-run lead, added another 222 runs on the fourth day, thanks to a 206-ball 139 from Harpreet Singh Bhatia.
So why didn't the skipper declare earlier than he eventually did at tea?
"We wanted to give our batsmen an opportunity to bat on," Bundela said. "Harpreet had not got a century this season and I am sure this will give him confidence ahead of semifinals."
Bundela is hopeful that his side will register an outright win. "We had enough time in hand. So we thought why not carry on and get enough total that they are not able to challenge. I will be disappointed if we do not win from here," he said.
On a flat track, MP batsmen exploited the Bengal seamers who struggled to find a wicket-taking lines even in the second innings. Bhatia got his season's first century, while Ankit Dane got a half-century. Bengal were 113/3 at stumps, with skipper Manoj Tiwary unbeaten on 32.
Bengal coach Sairaj Bahutule did not find the target sporting enough.
"I was expecting a 600-650 total, which we could have tried to achieve. Every team has their own method and plans. But I feel the target should have been competitive," he said.
The former Mumbai captain said he will take up the issue in the coach and captain's conclave.
"We need to do something about this. I will take up this issue with the BCCI, but I still feel it is what they though which was right," he said.
Dinda, too, was amazed. "My legs are paining. I bowled more than 60 overs. I thought the declaration will come after 550 or so but I've never seen something like this before," he said.
Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh 348 & 560/9 decl in 160.3 overs (R Patidar, H Singh 139, D Bundela 72, A Dane 69; A Dinda 2/92, VP Singh 2/94, P Ojha 2/169) vs Bengal 121 & 113/3 in 31 overs (S Mondal 39, M Tiwary 32*)
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