Bengal will be missing out on the services of their strike bowler Mohammed Shami, as the pacer wasn’t given a green signal by the BCCI to play the next game.
Recently, the board had decided to give ample of rest to the pacers, the reason why they have been following rotation policy in Test and limited overs format. The pacers are on the top of the priority list, and the team management is always in favour of giving them extra rest.
Bengal though got the clearance to avail the services of Wriddhiman Saha for the next contest. He will once again don the gloves for the state and will join the Indian team camp in Kolkata directly. Since the Ranji game will get played in Kalyani, Saha can join the side the very same day when the Ranji game ends.
In Shami’s absence, Ashoke Dinda will lead the pace attack. He has been the go-to bowler for the captain in the season and has scalped a total of 19 wickets in three games. His best bowling figures in an innings came against Chhattisgarh, in his 100th first-class match, where he scalped seven wickets for 21.
Bengal is currently placed at the third position in the points table with 13 points in the bag.
Meanwhile, Vidarbha is also set to miss Umesh Yadav in the bowling line-up. Just like Shami, Umesh will also take some rest ahead of the Test series against the visiting Sri Lankan team. Vidarbha is currently placed at the second position in the table with two outright wins in three contests. Another win here can see this team giving a strong competition to Punjab in the race to the first position in the points table.
Squad: Manoj Tiwary (captain), Sudip Chatterjee (vice-captain), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shreevats Goswami, Anustup Majumdar, Abhishek Raman, Koushik Ghosh, Aamir Gani, Pradipta Pramanik, Ashok Dinda, Sayan Ghosh, Ishan Porel, Kanishk Seth, B. Amit, Writtick Chatterjee.