Bengal have already made it to the finals, chasing a total of 307 in the final innings. With Ganguly coming back, this will look very strong. It's disappointing, that Sanyal left for Railways, because he was doing reasonably well as an all-rounder and a support seamer. The youngsters, especially Manoj Tiwari, have had a major share in this team's performance. Manoj averaegs over 50, and he's also played as a leg-spinner in the past, before his Ranji debut.
The one standout performer for Bengal is seamer Ranadeb Bose. With the more accurate and long-lasting Shib Shankar Paul out due to injury, Bose has led from the front as a striker and taken wickets in bucketfuls, especially in the matches that mattered. He's had good support from Saurav Sarkar and change seamer Ashok Dinda has had some fantastic matches so far. Spinner Sourashish Lahiri hasn't been outstanding but he's got a few wickets and the other spinner, a youngster, has also done well in the few matches he got.
The batting has looked very strong, even without Ganguly in it. Manoj Tiwari has scored a double century and one over 150 in this season, and has been in great form. Avishek Jhunjhunwala also has scored more than a few runs. Opening the innings has been an area of concern this time. As for Ganguly, he's socred big, and interestingly, scored quick in his last outing. Since he's in the running for ODI opener, he can also consider opening in the longer form of the game, so that's worth a try here. No better time to try it out than against Zaheer and Agarkar.
Fielding, as always, is a problem area. Bengal is not a strong fielding side, unlike the present Mumbai unit. None of the senior players are known to be effective on the field. It may just get found out here. Lack of versatility is another problem. None of the bowlers can score runs, and that's a well-known fact. However, even the batsmen who can contribute a lot by bowling long stocks of overs are going off after just one or two, which is a problem. They can't rely on their strikers all the time. It was sad to read of Bose bowling 50 overs in an innings, while the batsmen had a little over 20 between them.
Their opposition, Mumbai, have every area covered well. They've been bowling well as a unit, with effective fielding support. The batting, once an area of concern, is finally coming together. They've got history on their side, but Bengal have pinched a lead against them in this very season.
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