Senior pros Mukesh Kumar and Abhimanyu Easwaran are, as expected, back in the Bengal squad for their remaining two Ranji Trophy group-stage clashes against Haryana and Punjab.
With both remaining matches being Bengal’s home encounters, they resume their campaign against group toppers Haryana at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground at Kalyani beginning on January 23. Bengal host Punjab thereafter from January 30.
Alongside top-order batter Easwaran and pacer Mukesh, the squad also features a
couple of youngsters who have done well this season for Bengal U-19, especially in the Cooch Behar Trophy: Ankit Chatterjee and Vishal Bhati.
Also, it’s after 12 years that two Bengal cricketers made the Ranji squad straightaway from the U-19 level. Easwaran and pacer Ishan Porel were the ones to do so the last time during the 2012-13 season.
Bhati, a left-arm spinner all-rounder, finished with 31 wickets from six matches in the Cooch Behar Trophy, while Ankit tallied 325 runs from six games.
Both players were instrumental in Bengal U-19 reaching the quarter-final of the Cooch Behar Trophy before losing to Gujarat.
“Bhati stands a good chance of making his Ranji debut against Haryana as he’s a like-for-like replacement for Shahbaz Ahmed (undergoing recovery). Ankit too may play as the other opener as Sudip Chatterjee is a tad indisposed, though he has been named in the squad,” a Cricket Association of Bengal insider said.
Surprisingly, Anustup Majumdar, captain of the team, wasn’t present in Tuesday’s selection meeting. It was learnt that Anustup came to know about the meeting only after it got over. The presence of both the captain and the head coach of a team during a selection meeting is the usual practice.