Sourav to play Goa tie, but refuses to lead

After calling it quits at the highest level, Sourav Ganguly is all set to wield the willow — this time to help out his state team Bengal seniors in their crucial Ranji Trophy semi-final clash.

Dalmiya to sit through Bengal versus Goa Ranji Trophy Plate Division semi-final match at Delhi

After calling it quits at the highest level, Sourav Ganguly is all set to wield the willow — this time to help out his state team Bengal seniors in their crucial Ranji Trophy semi-final clash. Ganguly, who recently announced his retirement from international cricket, will however play in the tournament’s Plate Division knock-out match as just another team member, and not as captain.

As Bengal take on Goa in the four-day semi-final match at the Karnail Stadium in Delhi starting December 18, allrounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla will lead the team that will comprise Ganguly as the side’s No. 4 batsman.

Ganguly’s inclusion in the Bengal team for the crucial latter stages of the Ranji Trophy was expected all along, but his decision not to lead the team comes across as slightly surprising. CAB joint-secretary Arun Mitra says that he had offered the skipper’s job to Ganguly the moment the former India captain agreed to play the Goa match, but he refused to take up the top job.

“We had offered him the captaincy for the Goa match. But he refused, explaining that it will be better if the current captain (Shukla) continued. So, we went with his decision. His presence in the team is anyway a boost enough for the rest of the players,” Mitra told reporters this evening, as he announced the 15-member squad for the semi-final clash.

Over the past couple of seasons, Ganguly has played under the regular captain of the team whenever he played in the Ranji Trophy.

Meanwhile, the Bengal selectors are not looking to make very many changes in the playing eleven for the match against Goa, barring the uncomfortable search for the player who would have to make way for Ganguly.

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As things stand, allrounder Avik Chowdhury, who has been in fine nick lately, is likely to lose his place in the playing eleven and Ganguly will take his spot as the batting allrounder.

On the fourth and last day of their last league match against Vidharbha today at Nagpur, Bengal came tantalisingly close to snatching an outright win, knocking off seven wickets in the hosts’ second innings. Riding high on an impressive 5 for 46 from speedster Ashok Dinda, Shukla & Co picked up three points in the drawn match — they took the first innings lead — and topped their group with 21 points, getting pooled to play against Goa.

Playing at Karnail Stadium is no cakewalk though, with its much talked about underprepared wicket giving the CAB officials and Bengal players a few worries.

Interestingly, CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya is expected to catch up with the action in the Bengal-Goa match from the sidelines.

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Bengal need to win this match to ensure their much-yearned return to the Ranji Trophy Elite Division. However, if they lose in the semi-final clash, they will remain in the dreaded Plate section.

Bengal squad
Laxmi Ratan Shukla (captain), Sourav Ganguly, Rohan Banerjee, Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Avik Chowshury, Ashok Dinda, Ritam Kundu, Sourav Sarkar, Dibyendu Chakraborty, Ranadeb Bose, Anustup Majumder, Iresh Saxena, Avik Mullick, Soham Ghosh.