Abhimanyu Easwaran named as captain, Mohammed Shami and Akash Deep added as MAJOR boost to Bengal for Ranji Trophy

The pace bowling department is also going to receive a major boost with the inclusion of India fast bowling duo of Mohammed Shami and Akash Deep. Veterans Anustup Majumdar and Sudip Chatterjee, along with promising youngster Sudip Kumar Gharami, will form the backbone of the batting unit.

The squad also features emerging names such as Rahul Prasad, Saurabh Kumar Singh and Vishal Bhati. Laxmi Ratan Shukla continues to be the head coach, with Arup Bhattacharjee and Shib Shankar Paul assisting him. Charanjit Singh Matharu will serve as the fielding coach.

Bengal, placed in Elite Group C alongside Gujarat, Haryana, Services, Railways, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Assam, will open their campaign against Uttarakhand at Eden Gardens from October 15, followed by another home fixture against Gujarat from October 25.

Bengal Squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Abishek Porel (vice-captain/wk), Sudip Kumar Gharami, Anustup Majumdar, Sudip Chatterjee, Sumanta Gupta, Saurabh Kumar Singh, Vishal Bhati, Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Shakir Habib Gandhi (wk), Ishan Porel, Kazi Junaid Saifi, Rahul Prasad, Sumit Mohanta and Vikash Singh.