Late start denies Bengal morning advantage

KOLKATA: There was no rain and there was sunlight. But still the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'A' match between Bengal and Odisha could begin only after the lunch break due to damp pitch at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday. Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary's apprehension came true as umpires C Shamshuddin and Manish Jain found the track not fit for play in the morning. It took four inspections on part of the umpires to finally decide on going for the toss at 12.30pm with the match beginning at 1pm.
Tiwary felt this late start did hurt the tempo of the boys who were raring to go."I feel the neutral curator miscalculated the conditions a bit, but nothing to do now," he said at the end of day's play. Both the BCCI curator Ashok Verma and match referee Narayanankutty Vengalila refused to comment on the matter.
Tiwary put the rivals in after winning the toss, but the Bengal bowlers sorely missed plying their trade in the first session of play when the Eden track provides a fair bit of assistance. The Odisha batters took advantage of that to make steady progress and finish Day I of the four-day tie at 96 for two.
It was a drab day's play with little action as Odisha openers Anurag Sarangi and Shantanu Mishra negotiated the new ball with ease. The Bengal attack too looked docile much like the wicket. Only Pritam Chakraborty, returning to the side in place of Mukesh Kumar, maintained a steady line and length, beating the batters often outside the off-stump. But it was first-change bowler Akash Deep, who provided the initial breakthrough when he had the left-handed Sarangi play one a bit early to be caught by a diving Suvankar Bal at short mid-wicket.
Sandeep Pattanaik must be cursing himself for playing a reckless shot to a wide Ishan Porel delivery outside the off-stump to be caught behind by wicketkeeper Abishek Porel for 30. But Mishra played a steady innings to remain undefeated on 41 when bad light stopped play after only 35 overs. Giving him company was Odisha skipper Subhransu Senapati on nine.
Akash Ghatak, making his senior Bengal debut, looked unimpressive after the hosts decided to go in with four pacers. The former Bengal U-25 player often bowled too short, thereby giving away easy boundaries. Tiwary admitted as much. "This was his debut match, so this might happen," he defended the bowler.