Bengal face huge defeat against Saurashtra

Saurashtra are in sight of a huge victory over a listless Bengal in the Ranji Trophy Group 'A' league encounter in Rajkot.

At stumps on Monday, the third day of the match, Bengal were precariously placed at 65 for 3, chasing a huge target of 431 runs.

With skipper Manoj Tiwary unable to bat in the second innings due to a serious back injury, the fragile Bengal batting doesn't have the wherewithal to last an entire day, on a track that has offered appreciable turn to left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and offie Kamlesh Makvana.

Saurashtra declared their second innings at 333 for 8, courtesy an unbeaten 118 by Sheldon Jackson, who hit 17 boundaries and a six in his 217-ball knock.

The foundation for Saurashtra's innings was a 116-run stand for the sixth wicket between Jackson and Aarpit Vasavada.

Iresh Saxena returned figures of 6-133 and a best-ever match-haul of 11-150.

Bengal's batting, which has floundered on road this season, again started on an ominous note, with veteran opener Arindam Das (4) being trapped leg before by medium pacer Saurya Sanandiya in the second over.

'IPL specialist' Debabrata Das (12) came in and banged three boundaries in T20 mode, but offie Makvana saw his back after Nayan Doshi held on to a catch.

Wriddhiman Saha, who bailed Bengal out of trouble on the final day against Mumbai, wasn't successful this time, as Jadeja trapped him with an arm ball after he had scored 3.

At 28 for 3, Rohan Banerjee (28 batting) and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (18 batting) saw off the remaining 21 overs but their real test will be on Tuesday, when they have to negotiate the Saurashtra spin-trio on an ever-deteriorating pitch without their best batsman.

Brief Scores:

Saurashtra: 209 & 333-8 decl (Sheldon Jackson 118 not out, Ravindra Jadeja 68, Aarpit Vasavada 59, Iresh Saxena 6-133).

Bengal: 112 & 65-3 (Rohan Banerjee 28 batting, Ravindra Jadeja 1-19).