Bengal head coach Arun Lal remained firm in his stance that the pitch in use for the Ranji Trophy final at the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium is “poor”.

After a media statement issued by SCA curator Mahendra Rajdev termed Lal’s earlier comments on the pitch as “hasty and poor judgement”, the Bengal coach hit back, once again calling it “a poor cricketing wicket”.

“It doesn’t change anything for me. That’s my opinion and that’s yours. You look after your batsmen, don’t look after mine. That’s my job.

“I think it’s a poor wicket for a five-day Ranji Trophy final. It’s a poor cricketing wicket and nothing can change that,” Lal retorted after the third day’s play.

The statement issued by the SCA curator earlier in the day said: “I was surprised to see the rather critical statement of Mr Arun Lal, the Bengal team coach and mentor, after the first day’s play when Bengal held the upper hand.

“The pitch may not have had extra bounce which Bengal bowlers were looking for, but that does not make the wicket poor. It is a rather hasty and poor judgement by the Bengal coach and it may not be beneficial for their own players when the coach makes a statement like this.”

Also surprising is the lack of an official statement from BCCI curator Prashanth Rao, who according to an SCA official, left after the first day’s play.

Lal also clicked some pictures on his mobile of the current nature of the pitch after the third day’s play. “I have no plans of sending them to anyone. It’s only for my own analysis as I can tell the batsmen how to play on that tomorrow and how the roughs are and all that…” he said.

According to Lal, it’s the surface’s condition that makes Bengal’s chase tougher.

“The total is certainly chaseable. If we can score 330 after being down at 46/5, we can do it again. Only thing is this is a poor wicket.

“Today the ball was just not getting up. You become scared and can’t go on the back foot to punch the ball that’s slightly short,” he explained.

Umpiring question

Lal stopped short of calling umpire Yeshwant Barde’s decision to adjudge captain Abhimanyu Easwaran out leg before poor, but made his displeasure quite clear.

“Abhimanyu was not out, while Sudip (Chatterjee) was given out even after he had played the ball. Look, if a guy is out but given not out, that’s not poor umpiring because benefit of the doubt goes to the batsman. But if you are given out when you actually aren’t out, that is not good.

“Nonetheless, we have to carry on,” he said.