Santosh Trophy: Bengal, Kerala all set for title clash

Bengal and Kerala are both aiming to end a remarkable Santosh Trophy campaign by winning the title when they face off in the championship clash at Vivekananda Yubabharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Sunday.

Fittingly enough, two of the most successful teams in the history of the competition, Bengal with 32 titles and Kerala, the five-time winners, will be vying for the title.

Bengal blanked Karnataka in a nervy semi-final encounter as two of the veterans in the side Jiten Murmu and Tirthankar Sarkar scored for the hosts to set-up a date with Kerala who beat Mizoram 1-0 in their semifinal.

Bengal, who will carry the advantage of being the home side, have built their success around a solid defence that has only conceded two goals so far in the tournament, while they have relied heavily on the star quality of Jiten Murmu at the other end. Even coach Ranjan Chowdhury sounded confident about his team's chances.

"There is absolutely no pressure on the team. The team has confidence in its ability to win the final against Kerala," said Chowdhury.

Speaking about the opponents he said, "Kerala is a very strong and organized team. They are very strong defensively and got many talented players. Whoever wins tomorrow needs to earn the trophy by playing well."

Kerala have not won the trophy since 2005. Satheevan Balan's wards have seemed like a side on a mission to end their title drought and also have been a joy to watch in the tournament with an excellent display of teamwork.

"I am very happy with the progress of my team, which has shown great improvement match after match. We have a great deal of respect for Bengal but I know my players are capable of winning the title." Satheevan Balan said.

For many fans, Kerala is the favourite to win it, but Satheevan Balan is not ready to give into that assertion, insisting that Bengal have an equal chance of being crowned champions.

"We are not favourites. Since we arrived here, we take every game as a final and against Bengal will be same. We will put in our best to make sure we win. We have an idea of the Bengal team having played them earlier in the tournament but we are talking of the final and surely it will be different," he added.