Saha ton puts Bengal in command

An unbeaten 167 ( 292 balls,26X4,1X6) that Saha scored on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match against Gujarat at the Eden Gardens on Friday spoke volumes about the player’s grit and his desire to make a mark as a batsman. More importantly,it put the hosts in command.

The pressure was on Saha to take Bengal to safety after Manoj Tiwary departed in the morning,adding just 12 runs to his overnight score of 120. The second new ball was still moving a bit in the air,though the wicket offered very little to the Gujarat bowlers. The visitors didn’t have the wherewithal to make inroads into the Bengal’s lower middle order,still someone had to play the role of an anchor as the hosts wanted to bat just once in this game. Saha put his head down and played the deliveries on their merit. A half-chance in the nineties notwithstanding,his fifth first class century put him in good stead with the team selection for the tour Down Under just a month away.

Bengal eventually declared at 560/6,allowing Gujarat to play just six overs at the fag end of the day.

After this innings,questions are bound to be raised about Saha’s batting order. At No. 6,is he batting a little too low down the order? Saha himself,however,feels that opportunities will come even at No. 6. “I four-day games,No. 6 is an important position. I’m happy batting at that number,” he said,adding that the Australian tour and his competition with Parthiv Patel were never on his mind while playing the innings.

Credit must be given to Laxmi Ratan Shukla as well who tried to up the run rate and allowed Saha to play his natural game. Shukla’s 120-ball 78 and then Sourashis Lahiri’s 71 not out in 114 balls put some life into the proceedings. The partnership between Shukla and Saha added 130 runs for the sixth wicket,while the seventh wicket partnership between Lahiri and Saha yielded 142 runs.

It’s now over to Parthiv Patel to lead from the front and return with something from this match. Patel was not out on 8 at the end of the day’s play with

P Panchali (1) in company. Gujarat moved to 10 for no loss in the six overs they played.

“It’s very difficult to keep wickets for so long and then come back to open the innings. But I have done this at the top level and as a leader,I take this as a challenge. The wicket still is very good for batting and we will take it session by session,” Patel said.

To avoid follow on,Gujarat need 411. If Patel can guide his young team to that number,he probably will have a lot of reasons to smile.

Brief scores: Bengal 560/6 decl in 172 overs (W Saha 167*,M Tiwary 132,P Panchal 2/41) vs Gujarat 10/0 in 6 overs (Parthiv Patel batting 8,P Panchal batting 1)