Bengal eyes hattrick of wins with Ganguly back in fold

Kolkata, Jan 9 (UNI) Bengal will look to enter the semis in style having after sealing back-to-back victories, while for Rajasthan the game will be played for glory having already lost out in the run for the last four berth when the two meet at Eden Gardens in Ranji Elite Group tie tomorrow.

With two outright victories in their bag, Bengal are leading group B with 12 points from five matches. Their passage to the semi-finals is almost ensured. For Rajasthan the fate of the match will neither catapult them to the semis nor relegate them from the elite rung.

With Sourav Ganguly due to take the field tomorrow, Deep Dasgupta and his men will certainly fancy their chances against an inexperienced Rajasthan side.

However, Ganguly did not attend practice today at Eden Gardens.

But Cricket Association of Bengal officials said the former India skipper will be playing in tomorrow's game.

Bengal will also be hoping that pacer Ranadeb Bose will maintain his outstanding run of form. Bose, who has scalped 36 wickets from six games, more or less single handedly led Bengal to win in the crucial game against Hyderabad. His pace partner, Ashok Dinda has also been consistent in the tournament.

The Bengal batsmen, however, have to come good as none of them really managed to come out with an impressive performance save a solid 66 by Rohan Gavaskar in the first innings and an unbeaten half-century by Dasgupta in the second.

Their regular openers, Gagan Khoda and Vikram Solanki will be missing tomorrow's game because of personal reasons. ''I think this is an ideal opportunity for us to try out some young blood as we have nothing to loose, or gain from the game,'' said their coach and captain Ajay Jadeja.

Jadeja himself, was unsure about playing tomorrow. He, however, dropped some hints that he might just pad up if he felt the need.

''With Gagan (Khoda) and Vikram (Solanki) not playing, there is a need for a senior to be there to guide the players at the centre,'' he said.

Jadeja sounded optimistic about the possibility of Ganguly's return to the One-day International side. ''The kind of form he is in, I think we will have to get ready to field for two days,'' he quipped.

He maintained his opinion about Ganguly being the captain of the national side, saying: ''As a captain, he has contributed immensely to the national side, and he sure has much more to give.'' UNI