Batsmen's patience the key, say captains

Deep Dasgupta and Mohammad Kaif are leading their respective sides in a Ranji Trophy final for the first time. Yet, both seem to be guarded, confident and wary of their opponent.

For Kaif, even if the Lucknow pitch is a native one, he is not reading too much into it. "The wicket doesn't make a difference. On the day how we play matters more," he said at the KB Singh Babu Stadium today. Kaif's morale-booster to his side, which he calls a "gel of experience and youngsters", is three outright wins in their last three games, including the semi-final against Mumbai. "Our bowling is our strength and the fact that we have taken 20 wickets on three different occasions will hold in our favour."

Dasgupta, meanwhile, is banking on Bengal's strong batting order to come good. "We definitely are confident in our batting considering that each one of us from one to seven in the batting order has scored a century this season, which proves there is not one person we are banking on." As for the fast bowlers, he cites Shib Paul, Ranadeb Bose and Saurashish Lahiri as having enough ammunition to blow UP aside if they stick to the basics.

Both captains acknowledge that due to the slowness of the Lucknow pitch, the patience of the batsmen could in the end single out the winner. At the same time, Kaif and Dasgupta are not overwhelmed by the successful run of the other's team and instead are looking to play the final like any other game without putting pressure.