Shahbaz Ahmed: Pretty satisfying that I could contribute to the team’s win

Shahbaz Ahmed’s (centre in pic) third first class century (121) enabled Bengal recover from 108 for five to post a match winning total of 350 on a challenging wicket. | Photo Credit: NIRMAL HARINDRAN

Bengal all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed completed his comeback from injury with a stellar performance with the bat which turned the contest on its head against Kerala. Shahbaz’s third first class century (121) enabled Bengal recover from 108 for five to post a match winning total of 350 on a challenging wicket.

The all-rounder was pleased with his performance and rated his knock as one of the best in his career.

“I am on a comeback trail after injuring my knee in the Duleep Trophy cricket tournament. I did well with the ball in the last match and now I have done well with the bat. It is pretty satisfying that I could contribute to the team’s win,” he said.

“It was not an easy wicket to bat on and there was help for the spinners. I took chances and played my shots. Ankur Paul, Sumanta Gupta and Pradipta Pramanik also played their part in helping us reach a good total. Pradipta was taking wickets from one end and I only had to do the supporting role. Overall it was a good team effort.”

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Pradipta Pramanik was delighted to take his first 10 wicket haul of his first class career and said he concentrated more on bowling at the right length on this wicket.

“The wicket was turning when I was batting and I realised I needed to hit the right length to extract maximum help from the pitch. So I bowled a fuller length and got the ball to bounce and most of my dismissals came from catches in the slip cordon,’’ he said.

Bengal coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla said it was a team decision not to enforce the follow-on and wanted to give rest to the bowlers. as the conditions were testing.

“It was humid and the bowlers needed rest and also we didn’t want to bat again on this wicket so we decided to forgo the bonus point. We are happy with six points. The boys showed character to bounce back and I was a little surprised when we were asked to bat first on this wicket. Shami is a champion bowler and he bowled with a lot of intent,’’ he said.