Kolkata: Mohammad Shami and Wriddhiman Saha-two of the biggest names in Bengal cricket at the moment would return to the squad when their side takes on Delhi in the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy beginning on December 17.
Also, Sudip Chatterjee, who had missed the quarter-final match due to fever, is fit to play again and would be hoping to make an impact in the game.
Both Shami and Wriddhiman missed a few of Bengal’s matches in the ongoing domestic competition owing to national duty but with the Test series against Sri Lanka done and dusted, the duo would be back in the scheme of things in the all-important clash against heavyweigh
Ohts Delhi in Pune.
This would undoubtedly be a huge boost to the Manoj Tiwary led-side, which upstaged defending champions Gujarat in the quarter-finals with some superlative performances with both bat and ball. But Ishan Porel, expectedly wasn’t named in the squad as the youngster is a part of the Indian U-19 World Cup squad and would be involved in the national camp.
In the few matches he has played for Bengal this season, he has impressed with his pace and bounce but with Shami’s return, Bengal might not miss the services of the 19-year-old. The pace-bowling unit now would be spearheaded by the deadly duo of Shami and Ashoke Dinda who could rip apart any batting order on a given day.
Also, with Wriddhiman’s inclusion in the 15-man squad, it his likely that he would replace Shreevats Goswami, who has had a good tournament so far.
Squad:
Manoj Tiwary (captain), Sudip Chatterjee (vice-captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Anustup Majumdar, Abhishek Kumar Raman, Aamir Gani, Pradipta Pramanik, Ashoke Dinda, Mohammad Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Kanishk Seth, Boddupalli Amit, Writtick Chatterjee.