da bet7： The Bengal-Karnataka Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match peteredout into a tame draw at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday
da pixbet： Sakyasen Mittra07-Mar-2000The Bengal-Karnataka Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match peteredout into a tame draw at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday. The skipper ofthe Bengal team had talked about a declaration at lunch. However, themoment the doctors advised him to rest his right hand, which hassuffered a hairline fracture of the thumb, Chatterjee decided to baton. At the end of the day’s play he was quite frank when he said, “Iwould have declared if I had a supporting bowler. It would have beenno use to play on and risk further injury to my right hand.”For the record, Bengal scored 264 for the loss of nine wickets. Set atarget of 312 for an outright win in 25 overs, Karnataka scored 52runs for the loss of Mithun Beerala’s wicket in 18 overs before boththe sides agreed to a draw. However, Beerala’s dismissal was marked bysome ugly scenes between him and bowler Lakshmi Ratan Shukla. Aftergetting a leg before decision in his favour, Shukla had some words forBeerala. The latter than advanced threateningly towards the bowlerwith the bat upraised. However, prompt intervention by Syed Saba Karimand non-striker Roland Barrington prevented any major incident. Lateron, Shukla said, “He was abusing me when I batted. So I just saidafter I dismissed him that I was a better cricketer than him.” TheKarnataka batsman however, refused to talk about the incident.There were two good innings played today. First Devang Gandhi scored apleasing 88 with the help of 12 boundaries. More than the runsscored, it was the manner in which Gandhi batted. The confidence wasthere and he even tackled a good spell from Venkatesh Prasad and DoddaGanesh in the morning. Then Saba Karim batted fluently to score hissecond half century of the match. He made 55 with five boundaries anda lovely six over mid wicket of Sunil Joshi. Karim now seems to havefound a new impetus with Saurav Ganguly as the captain of the Indianteam. He batted so fluently that the Karnataka bowlers failed todismiss him even once. Shukla chipped in with a quickfire 37 of 28balls that had six boundaries and a six of A.Vijay over long on. ForKarnataka, the two left arm spinners Joshi and Vadeyaraj finished withthree and four wickets respectively.Even though Bengal finished the match with five points, their chancesof qualifying for the next stage look slim, especially since theirlast match is against a strong Mumbai side. Bengal now have 13 pointsfrom three games. So even if they get five points against Mumbai, theywill reach 18. If Karnataka manages to achieve an outright victoryagainst Delhi, then they will have 19 points. So a number of factorswill have to work for Bengal if they expect to qualify. As Chatterjeepointed out the match against Rajasthan in which Bengal had to remainsatisfied with three points may turn out to be the real nail in thecoffin for Bengal.
