Bengal fail to break HP citadel

Kolkata: In spite of having all the ingredients of a thrilling finale, the Bengal vs Himachal Pradesh Elite Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy match ended in a drab draw at the Eden Gardens on Friday. Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary saw it as a bad day in office as his bowlers failed to pick nine wickets for victory. “We could have done better in the first session to put them (HP) under pressure.We did our best, but things did not go our way as the pitch eased out a lot,” he said.
Bengal gained three points by virtue of taking the first-innings lead, while Himachal returned with one point.
The overnight unbeaten Himachal batters Prashant Chopra and Ankit Kalsi frustrated the Bengal bowlers as they negotiated the tricky first hour of fourth day morning well. Kalsi was more attacking of the duo getting some valuable boundaries.
As a matter of fact it was Himachal who had their nose ahead getting 141 runs in the first session of play losing only one wicket.
The 146-run second-wicket stand was finally broken when Kalsi edged pacer Sayan Sekhar Mondal to wicketkeeper Abhishek Porel after hitting a solid 82 that came off 114 balls with 10 hits to the boundary. But Amit Kumar, coming in next, ensured there were no further setbacks as he stitched together a 61-run third-wicket stand with Chopra before retiring hurt on getting hit on the head. Later he was taken for a precautionary CT scan too, which reportedly didn’t show any concern.
Chopra once again stood tall to complete back-to-back centuries just after the lunch break. The opener finally departed playing 205 deliveries and hitting 15 fours for his 109. Himachal skipper Rishi Dhawan took the side past the 300-run mark before falling for 31. With little chance of any outright result, both sides decided to call of the game an hour after the tea break.
Tiwary to remain skipper:
Manoj Tiwary will continue to lead Bengal as the side hits the road in their next two games against Nagaland at Dimapur and Uttarakhand in Dehradun. The team will miss Abhimanyu Easwaran at least for the next match as it will be almost impossible for the opener to reach Nagaland from Bangladesh just a day after the conclusion of the India vs Bangladesh second Test match. However, the team management is hopeful of getting him back for the game against Uttarakhand (from Jan 3).Scoreboard
Bengal (first innings): 310
Himachal Pradesh (first innings): 130
Bengal (second innings): 291/5 decl
Himachal Pradesh (second innings; overnight 79/1): P Chopra c S Gharami b A Deep 109, A Kalsi c A Porel b SS Mondal 82, A Kumar retired hurt 38, A Vasisht not out 28, R Dhawan c A Porel b SS Mondal 31, E Sen not out 19
Extras (b 8, lb 4, nb 9, w 6): 27
Total (For 4 wkts, 93 ovs): 348
Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-191, 3-265, 4-310
Bowling: I Porel 14-1-69-0, R Singh 9-1-36-0, S Ahmed 37-6-102-0, A Deep 21-1-86-1, S Gharami 2-0-10-0, SS Mondal 9-1-29-2, M Tiwary 1-0-4-0.