With all eyes on him, Sourav gets down to business

The Karnail Singh Stadium, just off Connaught Place, has been hosting Ranji Trophy matches all this season...

The Karnail Singh Stadium, just off Connaught Place, has been hosting Ranji Trophy matches all this season, but it’s never home to more than a few curious onlookers and a handful of cricket reporters. On Thursday, the slowly filling stands and the constant trickling in of spectators made it clear that something was different.

With the grind of international cricket behind him, Sourav Ganguly’s success or failure in his last first-class match, for Bengal against Goa, would’ve made no difference to his stature as a cricketer, but the weight of expectation outside the boundary rope, where a few hundred had settled by the lunch break, was almost tangible.

It seemed for a while, with Bengal chugging along at 101/1 despite losing a wicket early, that the crowd would have to come back another day to watch Ganguly walk in to the the middle. But his team, almost inexplicably, conspired to lose two quick wickets after the interval, and at 101 of three, the moment finally arrived.

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To rescue the team from four-wicket slide for 26 runs was perhaps why Bengal had asked for Sourav Ganguly’s services. And, under a bright winter sun, he obliged with a gritty, unbeaten 69, nursing newcomer Dibyendu Chakrabarty to score 75 runs of his own, as their unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 130 took Bengal to 257 for five by close on Day One.

Nods of satisfaction

There were no surprises, just nods of satisfaction as the fans were greeted by all the shades of the batsman they had seen for the last 12 years. He fidgeted with his gloves, the sight screen contrived to break his concentration, but in the middle of all those distractions were some trademark drives through the off side, still silky smooth.

Chakrabarty chipped in with some drives of his own, shaking off two dropped chances, while Ganguly hit one over the sight screen to send the crowd into raptures.

Controversy, too, kept its date with the left-hander. In the last over of the day from Robin D’Souza, the fielders went up as an edge flew towards Sagun Kamat’s at first slip. The umpires gave the benefit of doubt to Ganguly, deciding after a brief deliberation that the ball had fallen just short of the fielder, but the Goans were bitterly disappointed.

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Ganguly and Chakrabarty walked back soon after, raising their bats, as the crowd rushed in towards the security rope separating them from the pavilion. Ganguly had done his job on Thursday. Now, will there be a bonus on Friday?

Brief scores: Bengal (1st innings) 257 for 5 in 90 overs (Sourav Ganguly batting 69, Debyendu Chakrabarty batting 75, Wriddhiman Saha 54; Saurabh Bandekar 4/51) vs Goa