Bengal Cricket: East Bengal forms a new team; hoping to continue to the trophy run says Sayan Shekhar Mondal

East Bengal, the maidan giants and winner of two trophies last season signed their players at Eden Gardens for the upcoming season. They were one of the last teams to sign their players as most of their players were busy playing practice matches for Bengal at Puducherry. Pranob Nandy, who was with East Bengal as the head coach has left for Mohun Bagan and Sushil Shikaria, Rakesh Krishnan along with Bengal legend Sambaran Banerjee will head the coaching staff for the yellow and red this season.

East Bengal this season will miss the services of young players like Sudip Gharami and Ranjot Singh Khaira, but they have replaced them with talented batters like Diganta Neogi and Avirup Gupta in the squad. Along with them, senior players like Sayan Shekhar Mondal and Soham Ghosh, and young-gun Ankur Pal have stayed with the ultras to bring more success to the team. Susanta Das has joined them after having success with the team a few seasons back.

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Sayan Shekhar Mondal, who will be one of the main players in the squad feels their team has the right balance of youth and experience. Moreover, they are not worried about who has left the team as all the newcomers to the team are talented and good enough for them to bring glory.

"Even two years ago we had to make a new team. All the young guys are very much talented and established in the Kolkata Club cricket. So, we are hopeful that we will play well and bring glory to the club," said Sayan.

Besides that, the all-rounder feels the inclusion of Sambaran Banerjee as the mentor of the club will help the team a lot. "Obviously he has got all the experience to share with us. He was also the captain of East Bengal when the team had won four trophies in a season. I am sure his experience and guidance will help the team a lot," he added.

Along with all the Bengal players, East Bengal will have Railways players like Arif Ansari and Akash Pandey in the squad. Akash last year made his first-class debut for Railways and will be one of the key factors for East Bengal in the absence of Shreyan Chakraborty who has left them for Town Club.