Ganguly scores, but just a pair

If you talk about the 120-run partnership between Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Deep Das Gupta, only two words is enough to describe it — atti...

If you talk about the 120-run partnership between Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Deep Das Gupta, only two words is enough to describe it — attitude and application.

On a day when play was reduced to a comedy of errors, these two reminded that the game of cricket is much more than personalities and that it ultimately boils down to gustiness and the willingness to stay at the wicket.

These two India discards showed that they still have the temperament to play top-notch cricket, putting to shame many other big names with their skill and perseverance with the bat.

While Dasgupta (61) ducked, left, nudged and blocked to keep the bowlers at bay, Shukla (66) was punishing, as he delivered some lusty blows and drives on both sides of the wicket.

In one over, Munaf tested Shukla with the short stuff. The very next over he slapped one through the covers and had a few words to say to him, resulting in a minor skirmish in the middle.

Dasgupta, who made a patient 61 of 131 balls, was nicely into a comfort zone, especially against West’s best bowler Zaheer Khan.

A roll of the wrists to get the ball racing to square leg boundary off Zaheer, was the best shot of the day.Shukla’s six off Bahutule, who came around the wicket, showcased his confidence, as he lofted one straight over mid-on, which sailed into the stands.

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In contrary to these two, the other batsmen just failed to capitalise on a good track.

The biggest disappointment of the day was the first-ball dismissal of the beleaguered Ganguly, lbw plumb to Zaheer, who just didn’t seem to get his focus right.

The game apart from the batting of Shukla and Dasgupta, remained a circus. Catches were dropped in a heap and eleven batsmen were dismissed for nought, on the same wicket where India and Sri Lanka played the fifth ODI against India recently, which produced nearly 600 runs in a day.

With both Dasgupta and Shukla back in the pavilion, a third-day finish appears to be on the cards.

Brief scores

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East: 150 and 176-9 (Deep Dasgupta 61, Laxmi Ratan Shukla 66, Zaheer 4-41, Bahutule 2-39) vs West: 157 (Parthiv Patel 43, Zaheer n.o 28, Lahiri 4-35, Ganguly 3-45)