Bengal faced an innings and 26-run defeat to Delhi in the first Ranji Trophy semi-final. Bengal team skipper Manoj Tiwary, on Tuesday, admitted that the batting lacked a bit of skill while facing Navdeep Saini of Delhi.

Tiwary said, "Congratulations to Navdeep. He really bowled well but I think this spell will be much talked about because it was televised. I mean our bowlers have also bowled such spells, but they weren't aired live!"

"Yes he bowled quick and in right areas and as I said our boys lacked skill," the skipper added.

Saini bothered the Bengal batsmen and dismissed 4 of them with his raw pace. 

"We had a batting collapse and yes I must admit that there was some lack of skills while facing their bowling. Our batsmen should know the kind of situation they are in and the shots they can play," Tiwary said after the match.

Asked about Abhimanyu Easwaran perishing while playing the same shot, which was dropped during the previous delivery, Tiwary said that he will only improve.

"He is a matured kid. I don't know what was going through his mind at that point in time but he is still learning and will only get better. He will surely analyze what went wrong in execution," the skipper said.

Tiwary also defended his decision to play only three and a half (B Amit is an all-rounder) bowlers.

"I think we went with the right combination as Amit was bowling really well. Yes we had a left-arm spinner (Pradipta Pramanik) but since Delhi had so many left-handers, we thought Amir (Gani) would be more useful," he reasoned.

(Inputs from News18)