Bengal finished with three points in their Ranji Trophy clash against Uttar Pradesh at the Green Park in Kanpur.
Not a ball could be bowled on the final day of the game due to bad light, after UP had finished the penultimate day on 178/4 in their second innings with a lead of 50.
Captain Nitish Rana and Akshdeep Nath were at the crease batting on 47 and 11, respectively. For Bengal, pacer Mohammed Kaif had shone with three wickets.
Given the situation after the first three days, Bengal were the favourites to win this game. But light just didn’t get any better on Monday for play to begin before both teams decided to shake hands.
“It was a game from which we could have bagged six or even seven points,” chief coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla said before the Bengal squad prepared to depart from
Kanpur.
“But you can’t control the weather, so we have to remain happy with three points,” Shukla said.
Bengal play Chhattisgarh next at Eden Gardens from Friday in what would be their first home appearance this season. In the coming game as well, Bengal will be without top-order batter Abhimanyu Easwaran and frontline quick Akash Deep as both are busy with their India ‘A’ duties for the multi-day game against England Lions in Ahmedabad beginning on Wednesday.
Spinner all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed, on the other hand, is yet to recover from his injury.
Brief scores: UP 60 & 178/4. Bengal 188. Match drawn.
Three-day result on Iyer mind
Calcutta: Shreyas Iyer is hoping to play on turning tracks and is satisfied with his preparations for the upcoming series against England.
Iyer made 48 in Mumbai’s home Ranji Trophy match against Andhra which they won by 10 wickets on Monday.
“It wasn’t a turning track, to be honest. I’m assuming that we would be getting turning wickets against England. But other than that it was just for my match fitness... So this was great practice for me,” he said.
He is assuming an early finish to the Tests.
“To be honest I just have to think about the three days. See the last two Tests we played in South Africa finished in three days. The third day is always important so I just have to focus on the three days and fourth and fifth will follow if it has to.”
