KOLKATA: It was a story of so-near-yet-so-far for Bengal as the wait for their third Ranji Trophy title continued. The Manoj Tiwary-led side which played a catch-up game since the first session on Day I, finally threw in the towel to go down to Saurashtra by nine wickets before lunch of Day IV in the final at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday. Making the Ranji final for 15 times, Bengal ended up winning the trophy only twice so far.
The little hope of the side staging a comeback evaporated when Bengal lost overnight unbeaten batter Shahbaz Ahmed to a horrible mix-up with skipper Manoj Tiwary in the middle, who erred in calling for a non-existent third run in the sixth over of the morning. The run out of Shahbaz on 27 sounded the death knell for Bengal, who lost three more wickets in the next six overs.
Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat once again showed the way by having his Bengal counterpart caught, much like in the first innings, at gully by Vishvarajsinh Jadeja for 68 which came off 154 balls with the help of 10 boundaries.
Wicketkeeper-batter Abishek Porel departed without putting up any resistance pulling Chetan Sakariya to deep square-leg in the very next over. Unadkat got rid of Akash Deep and Akash Ghatak in quick succession as Bengal stared at an innings defeat.
However, the hosts' last pair of Ishan Porel and Mukesh Kumar used the long handle well to collect 36 runs that made Saurashtra bat again. Although they lost opener Jay Gohil to Mukesh Kumar, Harvik Desai hit the winning runs in 2.4 overs to fetch the side their second Ranji Trophy.
Skipper Unadkat, who returned to lead the side in the final after being released from the India camp, ended with six wickets in the innings and nine in the match to be named the 'player-of-the-match.' Middle-order batter Arpit Vasavada, who led in a few matches, ended up as the season's second-highest run-getter (907) to be adjusted as the 'player of the tournament.'
"I will not be able to express how disappointed we all are," a dejected skipper Tiwary said after the match. Looking back the minister of state felt the toss did play a vital role. "Things would have been different had the toss gone our way," he stated. "We handed over the advantage to them on Day I itself and have been trying to make a comeback since then," he pointed out.
The skipper took the blame for Shahbaz's run out upon himself. "Yes it was a wrong call on my part. I am not saying that had Shahbaz stayed there we would have won the match, but at least we could have put up a fight," he said.
In spite of losing his fourth Ranji final, Tiwary is not losing hope. "It's one of the matches where we could not execute our plans," he said. "We have always backed our boys hoping that they will come good. But of course something psychological must be affecting the boys in such big matches which we will have to sort out," he added.
Talking about his own future, Tiwary stated, "I am not able to tell you something concrete now. But what I can say is that winning the Ranji Trophy still remains my dream."
