It was a long wait for the 5,000-odd spectators who had started trickling in at Eden Gardens braving the early morning chill. And the man they had come for didn’t disappoint, despite the delayed entry. On a day that saw the Bengal batsmen take full advantage of a placid Eden wicket and an insipid Rajasthan bowling attack, Sourav Ganguly walked in — interestingly at No. 6 — and blazed away to a smart run-a-ball unbeaten 72-run knock. Of course, the scorecard will tell you that more savoury than Ganguly’s breezy innings in the context of this crucial Ranji Trophy match is the contribution of opener Subhamoy Das (82), and young turks Manoj Tewari (152 batting) and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (115). There was a 201-run second-wicket stand between Subhamoy and Jhunjhunwala, followed by two other century partnerships — 121 between Tewari and skipper Deep Dasgupta (38) and unbeaten 143 between Ganguly and Tewari again. Even as Bengal piled 385 runs today starting with their overnight score of 80 for 1, Paras Mhambrey’s boys had amassed 465 for 4 at stumps on Day II, imposing a virtually unassailable 272-run lead on the hapless Rajasthan outfit led by Ajay Jadeja. The dominant charge — led by fiery knocks from Tewari, Jhunjhunwala and later Ganguly — has now all but formally ensured the hosts’ hopes of making it to the semi-finals. It was quite a scene at the stands though, with eager fans growing impatient in the long wait for Ganguly to go out and bat, even as Tewari and Jhunjhunwala were tearing the bowling apart at will. So when Dasgupta played-on pacer Pankaj Singh midway into the second session, the stands literally came alive as Ganguly walked in amid a rousing welcome. Carrying his good form into this match after a successful South Africa tour, Ganguly stamped his class in no time. The left-hander unleashed a flurry of strokes on the off-side peppering the boundary between cover and point with sweetly-timed shots. If the pacers were dispatched through the off-side, the southpaw spinner-duo of Sumit Khatri and Md Aslam Khan was disdainfully lofted through the mid-wicket region off the front foot. “He is batting like a king, who can stop him?” said Jadeja, putting up a brave face after the day’s mauling. But lanky speedster Pankaj will consider himself unlucky for not seeing the umpire raising his finger when he appeared to have trapped Ganguly plumb in front off a pitched inswinger when the batsman was on 22. “Felt good batting here again. Well, they bowled enough balls for me to hit, and I hit them, that’s it,” Ganguly said with a shrug of the shoulders after the day’s play.With the huge lead, Bengal will now look to tighten the noose further in their quest for an outright win here that will shoot them to the top of the Elite group B table. “It’s no more about runs, it’s now about surviving these two days,” Jadeja candidly said after the day’s drubbing at the hands of Tewari, Jhunjhunwala and later Ganguly, who is now setting himself up for the three-figure mark. Brief scores: Rajasthan 193 vs Bengal 465/4 in 119 overs (Manoj Tewari batting 152, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala 115, Subhamoy Das 82, Sourav Ganguly batting 72).
