Since winning the Ranji Trophy in the 1989-90 season, when a player named Sourav Ganguly debuted for them in the final, Bengal have not been able to win the domestic title till now. From 2005 to 2007 they dominated the domestic circuit but came second twice in two seasons.

The last time they played in the Ranji Trophy knockouts was in the 2022-23 season when they lost against Saurashtra on their turf in Kolkata.

Post that final at Eden Gardens, two seasons have gone by and Bengal's quest for another Ranji Trophy title continued. In the 2024-25 season, they even failed to make it to the knockouts after average performances in the red ball format despite having a few national team players in action for them.

Bengal Ranji Trophy team 2024-25 | sportzpoint.com — Despite winning the final league match vs Punjab, Bengal failed to qualify for the knockouts of Ranji Trophy 2024-25. Image | CAB

In the last few years, Bengal Cricket have been accused of multiple issues such as a lack of home-grown talents, reports of age frauds and outstation players finding it easier to make themselves local players, reports of corruption in the second division and many more.

Today, we will not cater to those areas of Bengal cricket. Rather, we will have a deep analysis of what has happened within the team.

We will dig deep into numbers to analyze and discuss what might have gone wrong in the last three seasons for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy.

Keep in mind, that we have only taken the Ranji Trophy format and data into consideration. We will discuss the white-ball numbers in a different article soon.

Read Also | Where Are They Now: Last Time Bengal Men's Cricket Team Won A Trophy

Numbers and More: Bengal Ranji Team in Last Three Seasons

Here are a few findings from the last three seasons of the Bengal Ranji Team, collected by Sportz Point via BCCI.tv and ESPNCricinfo.

#1 | 13 opening combinations in three seasons

Bengal Ranji Team in Last Three Seasons: 13 opening combinations, 22 debutants and many more | sportzpoint.com — Ankit Chatterjee during his debut game in Kalyani.

This has been the main pain point for Bengal in the last few seasons; the opening slot. Though they have the services of one of the Best domestic players in Abhimanyu Easwaran, they have found it hard to find a suitable partner for him.

Moreover, whenever Easwaran goes to any National team duty or India-A games, Bengal have not been able to replace him as well.

In the last three seasons, Bengal have gone for as many as 13 opening combinations. In the 2024-25 season, they had 4 different opening combinations. In the 2023-24 season, the number was 3 and in the 2022-23 season, the number was 6.

2024-25 opening combinations

Ankit Chatterjee & Sudip Chatterjee (Match 6)
Ankit Chatterjee & Writtick Chatterjee (Match 5)
Shuvam Dey & Sudip Chatterjee (Matches 2, 3, 4)
Sudip Chatterjee & Abhimanyu Easwaran (Match 1)

2023-24 opening combinations

Sourav Paul & Shreyansh Ghosh (Matches 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Abhimanyu Easwaran & Ranjot Khaira (Match 6)
Habib Gandhi & Abhimanyu Easwaran (Match 7)

2022-23 opening combinations

Abhishek Das & Koushik Ghosh (Matches 1, 2, 5)
Koushik Ghosh & Abhimanyu Easwaran (Match 3)
Sayan Shekhar Mondal & Abhimanyu Easwaran (Match 4)
Karan Lal & Abhimanyu Easwaran (Matches 6, 7, 9)
Kazi Junaid Saifi & Abhimanyu Easwaran (Match 8)
Sumanta Gupta & Abhimanyu Easwaran (Match 10)

From the above list, it is quite obvious that Laxmi Ratan Shukla and the management have not been able to find a great opening pair which can last for a whole season. Though Sudip Kumar Gharami started as an opener, since he settled in at number three, Bengal has tried to use him only in that position.

Only the pair of Sourav Paul & Shreyansh Ghosh got five matches in a row in 2023-24 and the rest of them did not get that many consecutive matches to open as a pair. Yes, the availability of Abhimanyu Easwaran made that a bit tough as well.

Read Also | Bengal Cricket: 7 U-19 cricketers from Bengal who can play for India in future

#2 | 22 debutants in three seasons

Sumit Mohanta making his first-class debut for Bengal | sportzpoint.com — Sumit Mohanta was the latest player to make debut for Bengal in first-class cricket. Image | CAB

Bengal team management gave first-class debut caps to as many as 22 players in the last three seasons, which largely speaks about the inconsistency this team has had.

Even if we clear out the accusations of having "club quotas" in less important games, we have a few interesting numbers to present.

In the last three seasons, only Manoj Tiwary retired from all forms of cricket and we had Wriddhiman Saha and Sudip Chatterjee moving to Tripura to play first-class cricket. Besides that, players like Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep constantly stay busy with the national team setup.

Now, if you calculate the number of injuries to players like Ishan Porel and Shahbaz Ahmed, along with the different demands of the first-class arena, 22 debutants is a large number which can point to many distinct sections of the selection process.

Regardless of many arising questions in the Kolkata Club Cricket section, all of these 22 players performed quite well in Club cricket and age-level cricket to earn those selections. But, surely, the team combinations lacked consistency.

Players who made first-class debuts in the last three seasons for Bengal

Sumanta Gupta, Geet Puri, Ankit Mishra, Akash Ghatak, Ravikant Singh, Karan Lal, Suman Das, Habib Gandhi, Ranjot Khaira, Sourav Paul, Shreyansh Ghosh, Mohammed Kaif, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Rohit Kumar, Ankit Chatterjee, Sumit Mohanta, Vishal Bhati, Rishav Vivek, Avilin Ghosh, Shuvam Dey, Suvankar Bal, Subham Chatterjee.

#3 | 8 debutants played only one game in the last three seasons

Subham Chatterjee - Bengal Cricketer | sportzpoint.com — Subham Chatterjee is one of those 8 debutants who played only one game in last three seasons. Image | CAB

When any team select any player, there is something they see beyond the numbers. Numbers matter but the experience and gut feeling of those selectors matter more.

But, in the case of Bengal, we have seen a lack of faith in those talents. 8 out of those 22 debutants played only one game in a season. If you discount the debuts of Sumit Mohanta and Vishal Bhati, who debuted in the last game of this season, the number is six.

Below are the players who played only one game after making debuts for Bengal in first-class since the 2022-23 season -

Suman Das, Ravikant Singh, Habib Gandhi, Rishav Vivek, Vishal Bhati, Sumit Mohanta, Suvankar Bal, Subham Chatterjee.

Only pace bowler Rishav Vivek was injured after his first match and the rest of the players did not get a game after their first match.

Read Also | Bengal Women's Cricket Exclusive: Two out of two finals, record chase against Haryana, Jhulan Goswami, WPL and more

#4 | 17 players played two or fewer matches since the 2022-23 season

Shakir Habib Gandhi - Bengal Cricketer | sportzpoint.com — Habib Gandhi is another player who did not get a chance post his debut. Image | CAB

Here arises the question of consistency again. It might be the case of selectors or team management moving from one player to another quickly or players not impressing them enough in two games. But, a staggering 17 players have played two or fewer first-class matches in the last three seasons.

Again, we should cut the names of Ankit Chatterjee, Sumit Mohanta and Vishal Bhati from the consideration since they made debuts in the last two or final games of this current season.

Players to have played two or fewer matches in the last three seasons

Suman Das (1), Ravikant Singh (1), Habib Gandhi (1), Rishav Vivek (1), Vishal Bhati (1), Sumit Mohanta (1), Suvankar Bal (1), Subham Chatterjee (1), Kazi Saifi (1), Aamir Gani (1), Pritam Chakraborty (2), Geet Puri (2), Ranjot Khaira (2), Avilin Ghosh (2), Rohit Kumar (2), Ankit Chatterjee (2), Sumanta Gupta (2)

#5 | Anustup, Gharami, Easwaran and who?

Sudip Gharami and Anustup Majumdar batting together in Bengal vs Baroda 2022-23 Ranji Trophy match in Kalyani | sportzpoint.com — Sudip Gharami and Anustup Majumdar batting together in Bengal vs Baroda 2022-23 Ranji Trophy match in Kalyani.

If we take out the numbers of Bengal's top order batters, only Anustup Majumdar, Sudip Kumar Gharami and Abhimanyu Easwaran have scored the most runs for them in the last three seasons.

Bengal played the Ranji Trophy final in the 2022-23 season when all three scored more than 700 runs in a season, which was pivotal to Bengal's success. Shahbaz Ahmed and Abishek Porel played a few fighting knocks down the order for them, but that has not been good enough to turn the tables so far.

However, in the last two seasons, both Anustup and Gharami have not been able to continue that form and that was visible in the Bengal's results column.

Bengal players with the most runs in the last three seasons

2024-25

Sudip Chatterjee - 441 at 55.12
Sudip Gharami - 331 at 41.37
Anustup Majumdar - 228 at 28.50

2023-24

Anustup Majumdar 510 at 63.75
Abishek Porel 377 at 41.88
Abhimanyu Easwaran 337 at 168.50

2022-23

Anustup Majumdar 867 at 61.92
Sudip Gharami 803 at 50.18
Abhimanyu Easwaran 798 at 66.50

#6 | Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal - The Lone Warrior

Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal - Bengal Cricketer | sportzpoint.com — Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal has been Bengal's highest wicket-taker in last two Ranji Trophy Seasons. | Image - CAB

Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal has been Bengal's only shining star in the last two seasons since making his debut in the 2023-24 season. The medium pacer took advantage of Ishan Porel's injury and the absence of Indian stars like Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar and came out as Bengal's best performer.

Read Also | Exclusive Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal: "Jumping out" from tough times to become Bengal's star of the season

Jaiswal took 31 wickets in 6 games in his first season and followed that up with 29 scalps in the next season. In both seasons, he was the highest wicket-taker for Bengal.

Not only that, he also scored his maiden first-class ton this season, showing his all-round skill.

Other than him, no Bengal player could make a name for himself in the last two seasons. Do not be surprised if Suraj gets a maiden India-A call-up soon as well.

Most wickets for Bengal since Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal's debut

2024-25

Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 6 matches 29 wickets
Mohammed Kaif 5 matches 17 wicktes

2023-24

Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 6 matches 31 wickets
Mohammed Kaif 6 matches 17 wickets

What future holds for Bengal Ranji Team?

Bengal Ranji Team in Last Three Seasons: 13 opening combinations, 22 debutants and many more | sportzpoint.com — Bengal Ranji Trophy captain Anustup Majumdar and head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla during a practice session. Image | CAB

There is no doubt that Bengal has one of their greatest players Laxmi Ratan Shukla as their head coach. But, with too many changes and chops within the team, it is high time that the team management shows faith in homegrown talents and gives them a long run at a first-class level.

However, the most important thing would be that players raise their hands and perform at the domestic level. Players like Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal can be exemplary for them to learn and turn opportunities into success.

cricket Live Scores & Fixtures

Latest Stories

Subscribe Newsletter