Published: Jan 11, 2015, 07:18 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 11, 2015, 07:18 PM (IST)
By Sandipan Banerjee
Jan 11, 2015
Bengal have drafted Wriddhiman Saha, the Indian Test wicket-keeper in their squad for their crucial Ranji Trophy 2014-15 encounter against Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), which will start from January 13. Saha, who is fresh from playing the Border-Gavaskar trophy in Australia will be playing Bengal’s home game a Parveez Rasool‘s J&K only as a batsman though. Sreevats Goswami will do the wicket- keeping duties.
In the ongoing Ranji Season, Bengal is struggling and it is reflected in the points table too. In terms of points, Laxmi Ratan Shukla‘s team at present at the bottom of their group and to go through to the quarter finals, they need to win three of their remaining four games. So it is a tough equation for them and which is main reason why the experienced Saha has been included in the squad.
The think tank of Bengal is also considering a spinner friendly wicket at the Eden Gardens for this game. Off late Bengal have preferred green tops for their home matches in Ranji and Vijay Hazare matches. But it seems the the strategy has backfired them and now they would like to go back to their tried and tested method of turning tracks. But against an opposition, who has a quality spinner like Rasool on their ranks, this strategy can backfire too.
The Bengal squad, which announced is also suggesting that the home team will go for a turner. They have brought in, left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena and all-rounder Sandipan Das, who can bowl off-spin in their squad. Apart from them Bengal have off-spinner Saurashish Lahiri and Manoj Tiwary who is regarded as a decent leg spinner in domestic cricket. So it seems Shukla-led team will go for the kill against J&K on a wicket which will be favorable for spinners.
Bengal Squad for the game against J&K:
Laxmi Ratan Shukla (c), Wriddhiman Saha, Manoj Tiwary, Arindam Das, Sreevats Goswami (w), Sudip Chatterjee, Saurashish Lahiri, Iresh Saxena, Ashok Dinda,Veer Partap Singh, Pritam Chakrabarty, Abhimanyu Easwaran,Writtick Chatterjee, Sourav Sarkar, Sandipan Das, Ami Banerjee
(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at CricketCountry. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket he likes mountain trekking, river rafting, and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)
