Azhar Bilakhia who hit 122 .. at the Eden on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Gujarat, the jinxed team, have given Bengal a wake-up call ahead of their Round Four Ranji Trophy Super League encounter against Maharashtra which starts on Christmas Day. Having conceded a first-innings lead (and two crucial points) in the drawn tie at the Eden, Bengal (6 points) are no more the group B leaders. That honour now belongs to Hyderabad (8), who climbed to the top spot with a win over Mumbai on Wednesday.

The panic button was pressed rightaway.

No sooner had the match ended prematurely (due to bad light, half an hour after tea) than chief selector Arup Bhattacharya announced the call-up of C.K. Nayudu Trophy-winning under-22 trio — right-hand batsman and part-time off-spiner Priyankar Mukherjee, right-arm medium pacer Saurav Sarkar and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha — for the trials to be held on Saturday morning.

The chief selector wanted to send a two-way message.

First, for the seniors — perform or perish. And for the U-22 boys — perform for promotion. “Seniors should not take themselves for granted, there’s always some replacement. By calling the under-22 boys for selection trials, the message we are giving is that good performances are not going unnoticed,” said Bhattacharya. He blamed the seniors’ “over-confidence” for the ‘reversal’ against Gujarat following their brilliant show against Punjab and Mumbai.

Bengal had handed over the match Tuesday itself. Wednesday was just a formality to wrap up proceedings. The Gujarat boys, in fact, did not hesitate to pose for a ‘winning’ shot even before stumps were drawn for the final time.

The final day’s play, however, was not that dull. There was a personal milestone, there was some entertainment, and also, a couple of missed chances.

If Azhar Bilakhia notched up his maiden Ranji century (122) before tea, it was Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel and Bhavik Thakker who provided the entertainment with some brisk scoring. Having made his Ranji debut last season, Bilakhia’s previous best (74) was against Hyderabad.

Skipper Parthiv had six fours in his 35, while Bhavik delighted with two sixes and an identical number of fours in his knock of unbeaten 61. Bengal, on the other hand, did not have luck going their way; Bilakhia was dropped twice on 76 and 78 — by Arindam Das.

Maharashtra, with five points, are a point adrift of Bengal. Maharashtra, too, lost their Round Three encounter to Punjab in Kolhapur Wednesday. Both teams will be hungry to log as many points as they can.