Bengal hold edge in Wills final

CALCUTTA, JAN 16: World Cup probables will be at the centre of attention in the Wills Cup final between Bengal and Madhya Pradesh at the Eden Gardens here tomorrow. Lakshmi Ratan Shukla, Debang Gandhi, Syed Saba Karim and Amay Khurasia were named in the probables list yesterday. All of them will have a point to prove tomorrow.Madhya Pradesh just about managed to reach the final of the Wills Trophy with a two-run victory over Mumbai at Cuttack. In contrast, Bengal defeated Delhi by 127 runs in the other semi-final at Jamshedpur. Two of the probables got centuries in the semi-finals. While Amay Khurasia scored 107, Shukla opening the innings for Bengal with Nikhil Haldipur, notched up 136.

Shukla, in the quarter-final against Tamil Nadu, grabbed four crucial wickets to help his side win. These two performances tilted the scale in Shukla’s favour when the national selectors met here yesterday to draw up the probables list.Khurasia too had a good innings of 70 in the quarter-final against Wills XI at Agartala.Debang Gandhi also proved his capabilities, scoring a century against Tamil Nadu.Although a limited overs match is a game of chances, Bengal appear to have an edge over Madhya Pradesh tomorrow. Led by the seasoned Utpal Chatterjee, the hosts have a number of all-rounders in their side. Apart from Shukla, Rohan Gavaskar has been picking up wickets, although he has not scored too many runs lately.

Gandhi too can turn his arms a bit.Shukla along with Arindam Sarkar and Ranadebb Bose will be the medium pacers for Bengal with Chatterjee doing the run-checking act with his spins. H. Sudhir picked up six wickets for Madhya Pradesh against Wills XI and should play a major role tomorrow.