Ranji Trophy: Ashok Dinda, Murali Kartik involved in a scuffle again

There was no love lost between Bengal and Railways cricketers as skipper Murali Kartik was involved in another verbal altercation with mercurial Bengal speedster Ashok Dinda on the first day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final match in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Owing to the tension between the two sides when they last met, both captains Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Murali Kartik buried the hatchet during  a photo-op on the eve of the quarterfinal clash between the two sides. However, Ashok Dinda was seen having a heated exchange of words with Railways' skipper Kartik.

Dinda looked all worked up as he struck four boundaries, including one square cut over deep point to Kartik, en route to his 12-ball 17. The Bengal pacer was seen swinging his bat in the air while going back to the dressing room after the day's proceedings. "Kartik remarked a few things about his shots and Dinda was not somebody to stay quiet," a team insider said.

Less than a month after they had a bitter exchange with Kartik who 'Mankaded' Sandipan Das in their league match in New Delhi, Shukla too was all worked up against the Railways skipper when he came into bat in the 65th over.

All aggressive, Shukla stepped out to Katik in the 66th over but only to miss the line as wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat missed the stumping opportunity. The duo seemed to exchange a few words at that point. In the end, it was Kartik who won the mini-battle after Shukla's powerful sweep ricocheted off Nitin Bhile's shoulder at short leg to be taken by wicketkeeper Rawat. Young Bengal middle-order batsman Writtick Chatterjee too showed dissent when he gestured to umpire Suresh Shastri that the ball hit his elbow and stayed at the crease in protest after being given out caught behind.

However, it's still not known whether the young Bengal batsman was handed any punishment. Railways players were however graceful in congratulating young Sudip Chatterjee, who made 96. "They told me 'Well played, bad luck...', Chatterjee said and added that he was not sledged during his knock. Put in, Bengal were 274 for eight with half-centuries from Chatterjee, Abhimanyu Easwaran (65) and Wriddhiman Saha (60 batting).