PATIALA: Left-arm spinner Vinay Chaudhary landed the ball on the right spots to send the batting line-up of Bengal for a spin in their crucial Ranji Trophy group A match at the Dhruv Pandove Stadium here on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old, who got married just a couple of days ago, bagged six wickets to restrict Bengal to 138, and continue his superlative form. He took nine wickets in the team’s win over Andhra here, an effort that had led skipper Mandeep Singh to call him an unsung hero.
Not long back, Vinay used to play second fiddle to Harbhajan Singh. Now, Mayank Markande is the first choice spinner. But the Amritsar lad, who has only played 17 first-class matches for Punjab since his debut in 2013, has come into his own in the last couple of matches. And, today, was another one of his performances that proved he can be one of the mainstays in the bowling department, although he did get some help from the Bengal batsmen’s mistakes.
After opting to bat first, none of the Bengal players applied themselves, apart from Manoj Tiwary, who scored a fighting half century. It looked like the ghost of a bad pitch got the better of them. The pitch had odd bounce but in the morning session it was completely dominated by Punjab’s medium pacer. Siddharth Kaul, who was playing with fever, bowled superbly, but failed to take any wicket. It was his fellow pacer Baltej Singh (3/16), who gave Bengal the early jolts. The lanky pacer castled Bengal skipper Abhimanu Easwaran for a duck. Easwaran was all over the place during his shot stay at the crease. Baltej kept bowling a probing line and also ended the misery of Koushik Ghosh (7).
Abhishek Raman (14) threw away his wicket with a wild hoick and debutant Ramandeep Singh took a good running catch at the sweeper cover region of Krishan Alang’s bowling. Thereafter, Vinay clean bowled Arnab Nandi and left Bengal reeling at 57 for 4.
The experienced duo of Manoj and wicketkeeper Srivats Goswami started to rebuild the innings. But Goswami (19) was dismissed by Chaudhary just at the stroke of lunch. Bengal were 104 for 5 in 38.1 overs at the lunch break.
Vinay continued to torment the Bengal batsmen and bagged two more wickets in the 39th over. Anustup Majumdar was caught by wicketkeeper Anmol Malhotra and Bengal’s last match hero Shahbaz was adjudged leg before. This over of Vinay, according to Bengal coach Arun Lal, took the game away from Bengal.
“We lost three wickets in one over which really did the damage for us. We could have applied ourselves a bit better. Credit must be given to Punjab as they bowled really well and their accuracy was pinpoint,” said Lal after the day’s play.
Lal accepted the pitch is not that bad as they had presumed. He said, “It is not that bad but yes, if you see out of 13 wickets which fell today 10 were taken by spinners. So, it is also not a quality pitch either. The lead of 50-60 runs will not matter a lot, because it is Punjab who have to play in the fourth innings. I think we are still in the game.”
It looked like Manoj, who remained unbeaten on 73, was playing on a different surface even as wickets tumbled at the other end. The 34-year-old played some eyecatching shots and his inside out six over Krishan Alang was definitely the best shot of the day.
Bengal coach Arun Lal heaped praises on Tiwary and said: “This is how you bat on a turning track. He is probably the best batsman of spin bowling in this country. It was a classy knock.”
Punjab’s wrecker-in-chief, Vinay Chaudhary credited his success to former India left-arm spinner Maninder Singh.
“During the pre-season, I had watched videos of Maninder sir. The way he used the crease was quite phenomenal. Earlier in the season, I didn’t get much game because the team was playing with three pacers and one spinner, so I used to bowl a lot on the nets and learnt this craft of using the crease,” said Chaudhary.
It was Chaudhary’s second six-fer in a row, but for him this was more satisfying.
“Against Andhra, there was so much help for the spin bowlers from the surface. That was a spinner friendly track but on this pitch, I took all the wickets with the help of my skills. So, for me, this five-wicket haul is more satisfying,” he said.
In reply, the hosts are in a commanding position with 93 for 3 in 38.3 overs with their leading run scorer skipper Mandeep Singh (29 not out) on the crease. Punjab opener Rohan Marwaha (48) missed out on a well-deserved half century as he was sent back by Akash Deep.
The 26-year-old, who got married just a couple of days ago, bagged six wickets to restrict Bengal to 138, and continue his superlative form. He took nine wickets in the team’s win over Andhra here, an effort that had led skipper Mandeep Singh to call him an unsung hero.
Not long back, Vinay used to play second fiddle to Harbhajan Singh. Now, Mayank Markande is the first choice spinner. But the Amritsar lad, who has only played 17 first-class matches for Punjab since his debut in 2013, has come into his own in the last couple of matches. And, today, was another one of his performances that proved he can be one of the mainstays in the bowling department, although he did get some help from the Bengal batsmen’s mistakes.
After opting to bat first, none of the Bengal players applied themselves, apart from Manoj Tiwary, who scored a fighting half century. It looked like the ghost of a bad pitch got the better of them. The pitch had odd bounce but in the morning session it was completely dominated by Punjab’s medium pacer. Siddharth Kaul, who was playing with fever, bowled superbly, but failed to take any wicket. It was his fellow pacer Baltej Singh (3/16), who gave Bengal the early jolts. The lanky pacer castled Bengal skipper Abhimanu Easwaran for a duck. Easwaran was all over the place during his shot stay at the crease. Baltej kept bowling a probing line and also ended the misery of Koushik Ghosh (7).
Abhishek Raman (14) threw away his wicket with a wild hoick and debutant Ramandeep Singh took a good running catch at the sweeper cover region of Krishan Alang’s bowling. Thereafter, Vinay clean bowled Arnab Nandi and left Bengal reeling at 57 for 4.
The experienced duo of Manoj and wicketkeeper Srivats Goswami started to rebuild the innings. But Goswami (19) was dismissed by Chaudhary just at the stroke of lunch. Bengal were 104 for 5 in 38.1 overs at the lunch break.
Vinay continued to torment the Bengal batsmen and bagged two more wickets in the 39th over. Anustup Majumdar was caught by wicketkeeper Anmol Malhotra and Bengal’s last match hero Shahbaz was adjudged leg before. This over of Vinay, according to Bengal coach Arun Lal, took the game away from Bengal.
“We lost three wickets in one over which really did the damage for us. We could have applied ourselves a bit better. Credit must be given to Punjab as they bowled really well and their accuracy was pinpoint,” said Lal after the day’s play.
Lal accepted the pitch is not that bad as they had presumed. He said, “It is not that bad but yes, if you see out of 13 wickets which fell today 10 were taken by spinners. So, it is also not a quality pitch either. The lead of 50-60 runs will not matter a lot, because it is Punjab who have to play in the fourth innings. I think we are still in the game.”
It looked like Manoj, who remained unbeaten on 73, was playing on a different surface even as wickets tumbled at the other end. The 34-year-old played some eyecatching shots and his inside out six over Krishan Alang was definitely the best shot of the day.
Bengal coach Arun Lal heaped praises on Tiwary and said: “This is how you bat on a turning track. He is probably the best batsman of spin bowling in this country. It was a classy knock.”
Punjab’s wrecker-in-chief, Vinay Chaudhary credited his success to former India left-arm spinner Maninder Singh.
“During the pre-season, I had watched videos of Maninder sir. The way he used the crease was quite phenomenal. Earlier in the season, I didn’t get much game because the team was playing with three pacers and one spinner, so I used to bowl a lot on the nets and learnt this craft of using the crease,” said Chaudhary.
It was Chaudhary’s second six-fer in a row, but for him this was more satisfying.
“Against Andhra, there was so much help for the spin bowlers from the surface. That was a spinner friendly track but on this pitch, I took all the wickets with the help of my skills. So, for me, this five-wicket haul is more satisfying,” he said.
In reply, the hosts are in a commanding position with 93 for 3 in 38.3 overs with their leading run scorer skipper Mandeep Singh (29 not out) on the crease. Punjab opener Rohan Marwaha (48) missed out on a well-deserved half century as he was sent back by Akash Deep.
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