Competitive cricket is all set for a resumption in the city as the six-team Bengal T20 Challenge, an initiative of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), will get underway at Eden Gardens on Tuesday.

Mohun Bagan face Customs in the tournament opener, which will be followed by the game featuring Town Club and Kalighat. East Bengal and Tapan Memorial are the other two participating teams.

With the pandemic having thrown this season’s club cricket into realms of uncertainty, this competition would surely come as a relief, especially for those players who rely a great deal on these matches and had also been craving for some much-needed game time.

Even the bigger stars of state cricket, the likes of Anustup Majumdar, Arnab Nandi, Manoj Tiwary and a few others, who weren’t part of this year’s IPL, will be eager to test themselves on the field and get on with their preparations, more so if the domestic season does begin in January as being planned by the BCCI.

“We’re all pretty excited to get back to cricket again after such a long time. Hats off to CAB for organising such an exciting tournament in this difficult situation. We thank CAB for its efforts for the betterment of cricket and us players,” Anustup, who will be captaining Mohun Bagan, said.

Unfortunately, Bengal skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran, Abhishek Raman (both East Bengal), Writtick Chatterjee (Mohun Bagan), Dip Chatterjee (Customs) and Roshan Singh (Tapan Memorial) tested Covid-19 positive during the mandatory testing and have been ruled out of the tournament.