Senior wicket-keeper batter Wriddhiman Saha has made a return as Bengal announced their squad for the upcoming Ranji Trophy quarterfinal. Bengal will lock horns with Jharkhand in the first quarterfinal, starting June 6 at the Just Cricket Academy.
Incidentally, Saha opted out of the league phase earlier this year, citing personal reasons. However, it was widely reported that the India international skipped the group stage after India coach Rahul Dravid told him that he was not in the team’s future plans.
Wriddhiman Saha’s return to the domestic fold will be a massive boost for Bengal. He has been in spectacular form in the ongoing IPL 2022, scoring 281 runs in eight games for Gujarat Titans (GT).
Mohammed Shami’s availability to depend on BCCI’s clearance
The 22-member squad also saw the return of senior fast bowler Mohammed Shami. With BCCI giving rest to the regular cricketer from the five-match T20Is against South Africa, Shami will have no assignments. However, his participation is subjected to clearance from the BCCI as the apex body wants its cricketers to be fit before the Test match against England next month.
Bengal minister Manoj Tiwary is also part of the squad that will be led by Abhimanyu Eswaran. A few other cricketers, who are currently plying trade in the IPL are also part of the squad.
The 2019-20 runner-up has played some ruthless cricket in the league phase and will hope to continue the momentum in the knockouts. The semi-finals are scheduled to take place between June 12 and 16, while the mega-final will be on June 20.
Bengal Squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha, Mohammad Shami (subject to BCCI clearance), Anustup Majumdar, Sudip Chatterjee, Shahbaz Ahmed, Abhishek Kumar Raman, Writtick Chatterjee, Sayan Shekhar Mandal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Ishan Porel, Koushik Ghosh, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Pradipta Pramanik, Karan Lal, Nilkantha Das, Sudip Kr. Gharami, Abhishek Porel, Mohd. Kaif, Ankit Mishra
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