East Bengal Cricket team is all set to take the Kolkata Club Cricket club by storm after a not-so-successful last season. The red and yellow brigade will have a totally reformed team ahead of the 2023/24 season of Kolkata Club cricket. The Maidan giants have roped in coach Abdul Monayem from Bhawanipore to get the trophies back to the club. Abhishek Das is set to lead the club. Sportz Point brings you the full list of the East Bengal squad before they even sign at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Even before the last season ended fully, fans knew that some of their major players would leave the club. Players like Ishan Porel, Ankur Paul, Akash Pandey and Sayan Shekhar Mondal will join the arch-rivals Mohun Bagan Athletic Club for the next season. So, to replace them, the team management had to look for some match winners in the squad. All-rounders Ayan Bhattacharjee, Akash Ghatak and Shryean Chakraborty will be one of those players for them. Writtick Chatterjee and Arka Sarkar will be their other main all-rounders for next season.

Read Also: Kolkata Club Cricket Exclusive: Mohun Bagan eye every trophy signing youngsters of Bengal cricket

"We have got the best all-rounders of Kolkata Club Cricket:" East Bengal captain Abhishek Das

Coach Abdul Monayem and captain Avishek Das feel having good all-rounders will give the team the exact balance they are looking for in the squad. Not only that, captain Abhishek Das went on to say that Ayan Bhattacharjee and Akash Ghatak are some of the best pace bowling all-rounders going on in the market.

"Having good all-rounders is always vital. They provide you with the balance in the squad. Me and Ayan have been playing for many years. I feel Ayan and Akash Ghatak are some of the best at the moment from Bengal. You can use them anywhere with the bat and ball," Abhishek Das told Sportz Point in an exclusive telephonic conversation.

In the batting lineup, East Bengal will have the services of Subhrajit Das, who was captain of Customs Club last season. Along with him, there will be Mithilesh Das (roped in from Kalighat), Ayan Gupta, Shashank Singh (roped in from Shaymbazar) and Suroit Yadav. Amitoze Singh will be their outstation player in the batting lineup. Sourav Paul and Arpan De will be the main wicket-keeper batters for them.

"You can not win without being positive:" Das

Abhishek Das will be crucial in the batting lineup at the top of the order and he admits to that. "I know at the top of the order, I will be vital for the team, giving them a good start. I am attacking in my approach but never reckless. Even if I get reckless it is balanced with braveness," Das told Sportz Point.

Just like my batting, I will be very much positive in my captaincy as well. You can not win matches without being positive. This will be a huge responsibility for me after serving Bhawanipore for 13 years. There will be many boys whom I have played with at Bhawanipore. So, I guess, that will make it easier for me," Abhishek Das added.

Read Also: 300 in a U-13 match: Bengal's wonder kid Ram Sen creates history in CAB Ambar Roy U-13 Tournament

With the new-looking squad, it looks like Amit Kuila will be the pace-head for them. The railways' pacer will join them from Kalighat after having a successful stint at the club. Sumit Mohanta will be his partner in crime. Satyaki Dutta, Arka Sarkar, Akash Ghatak and Ayan Bhattacharjee will be the other pacers for them. Roshan Singh will be their left-arm quick to provide variety to the squad.

Kuila, Shreyan, Sumit and Roshan Singh makes a good bowling department for East Bengal"

The spin bowling department is one of the most vital parts of the success of Kolkata Club Cricket. Shreyan Chakraborty will head that department for East Bengal. Shreyan already had a great run for East Bengal in the past and surely would love to continue that this season. Along with him, it will be Vineet Mourya, Amrit Raj Upadhyay, and Balkesh Yadav in the spin department for the ultras.

"It's a challenge and responsibility for me:" Coach Abdul Monayem on being appointed as the coach of East Bengal Cricket team

Coach Abdul Monayem is hopeful of doing great things as a coach. Abdul Monayem as a player was very successful for the Red and Yellow. But, he knows this is a huge responsibility as public clubs like East Bengal demand success.

"It is a challenge and responsibility for me. East Bengal being a public club, will always demand success from me and us. As they say, "amago club," I believe East Bengal as my club from my playing days. I have done coaching in Mohun Bagan as well but that was 15 years back. So, I am really hoping for a great season ahead," Monayem told Sportz Point.

"We have got a very balanced side with lots of all-rounders. We have a mix of youngsters and experienced players. So, really hoping to play some good cricket," he added.

East Bengal Cricket Team full squad for Kolkata Club Cricket season 2023-24

Abhisek Das (C), Aishik Patel, Shashank Singh, Subhrajit Das, Suorjit Yadav, Ayan Gupta, Satyaki Dutta, Amitoze Singh*, Mithilesh Das, Akash Ghatak, Sumit Mohanto, Amit Kuila, Roshan Singh, Balkesh Yadav, Amrit Raj Upadhyay, Ayan Bhattacharjee, Vineet Mourya, Sekhar, Singh Chouhan, Sourav Paul, Writtick Chatterjee, Aditya Sharma, Arka Sarkar, Mrityunjay Yadav*, Shreyan Chakraborty

Ranji Trophy is an annual domestic first-class cricket competition organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and played between the country's state and regional cricket associations.

Also Read: Ranji Trophy winners since 1934-35 season

The premier domestic competition named after the first Indian cricketer, Ranjitsinhji, who was also known as 'Ranji', was launched in 1934-35 featuring 15 teams in four zones in a knockout format and has since expanded to a 32-team tournament in the league and knockout format.

The first-ever edition was won by Bombay now known as Mumbai, who have also won the Ranji title the most. Record champions Mumbai have won the Ranji Trophy 41 times so far. Mumbai has also reached the final 47 times.

Karnataka earlier played as Mysore is the second most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, having won the title 8 times and finished runners up 6 times followed by Delhi, who have won the title 7 times and finished as runners-up 8 times.

The Ranji Trophy 2024-25 has finally concluded with Vidarbha winning their third Ranji title defeating Kerala in the finals. Let's check out the last 10 winners of the Ranji title.

Read Also: Most Wickets in a Ranji Trophy Season

Last 10 winners of the Ranji Trophy

N.B: Last Updated on 03/03/2025.

Hello and welcome to another live coverage of Indian football as we continue bringing you all the live updates of the Indian Super League 2024-25. Tonight, We will bring you all the live updates, news, and live scores of the exciting encounter between East Bengal FC and Hyderabad FC at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.

East Bengal are currently positioned eighth on the leaderbarde, having earned 24 points from 21 matches. Hyderabad, on the other hand, have only managed to earn 17 points in 21 matches as they are in the 12th position.

Both teams will look to end the season on a high. So sit back and enjoy the match as Sportz Point provides you with all the real-time updates, team news, live scores, and match commentary tonight.

This is Soumit Bhattacharya, who will bring you all the updates of the match from the web desk.

Moreover, you can follow us on Twitter for all the updates. Join our Telegram and WhatsApp channels to get all the news and scores.

Hello and welcome to another live coverage of Indian football as we continue bringing you all the live updates of the Indian Super League 2024-25. Tonight, We will bring you all the live updates, news, and live scores of the exciting encounter between Punjab FC vs East Bengal FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi.

Punjab FC will be very disappointed after the last match against Chennaiyin FC as they had plenty of opportunity to score goals in the second half to seal the three points for them. But poor finishing and defending cost them, as they will look to bounce back at their home when they do battle against Oscar Bruzon's managed side.

Currently, they are placed in the ninth spot and a string of good results will push them to high positions but at the same time, they will hope that other teams drop points.

Injuries and individual mistakes have cost East Bengal FC a lot and made the job of coaching staff very difficult. The red and gold brigade will have to win every fixture that is left to be played then only they will have some changes to make it. After a good win over old rival Mohammedan SC, they will be looking to keep their positive momentum against the Shers.

This is Swastik Debnath, who will bring you all the updates of the match from the web desk.

Moreover, you can follow us on Twitter for all the updates. Join our Telegram and WhatsApp channels to get all the news and scores.

Chakdaha, a very tiny town in the Nadia district of West Bengal, is known to the cricketing world for a very special player. It is Jhulan Goswami, who made Chakdaha famous with fiery spells all around the globe, wearing the Blue jersey of India. 

When Jhulan was breaking records in women's cricket, another speedster from Chakdaha dreamt of breaking stumps and records too. Sayan Ghosh, known as Bengal's Malinga, saw ups and downs from the start of his cricketing career. But, like his swinging yorkers, Sayan never swayed away from his targets. 

Ghosh last played a Ranji Trophy game way back in 2017. In 6 first-class games, he has two five-wicket hauls. Still, he was never called back to the Ranji Trophy, team until this season. The reason is his incredible comeback into the white ball side for Bengal. 

Sayan Ghosh's incredible season in white-ball format

Sayan was always called the "White Ball" specialist due to his ability to hit yorkers and variations. However, with bowlers like Mukesh Kumar, Ishan Porel and Akash Deep doing well, he found himself out of the side in the last few seasons. But, his will to keep doing well at the club level, helped him make another comeback to the Bengal side. 

This season, Sayan Ghosh was the highest wicket-taker for Bengal in both Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy tournaments. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, he returned with 13 wickets from 7 games at an outstanding economy rate of 6.77.

Bengal wins the thriller against Chandigarh and marches forward to the semi finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024.

Former KKR bowler Sayan Ghosh was the star of the show as he picked up 4 wickets and defended 11 runs of the final over that helped Bengal come out on top. pic.twitter.com/ZdOl4soLSt

— KKR ULTRAS (@KKRUltras) December 9, 2024

In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the stats were even better as he capped off the season with 15 wickets from 7 games which included a five-wicket haul against Kerala. Post, his outstanding white-ball return, Sayan was included in the Ranji Trophy squad for the final two games of the season. 

Read Also | Bengal Ranji Team in Last Three Seasons: 13 opening combinations, 22 debutants and many more numbers

"Nothing as sweet as a comeback:" Sayan Ghosh

After his remarkable resurgence in domestic cricket, Sportz Point sat with the 32-year-old pacer to sense his thoughts. 

Talking about his return to the Bengal team, Sayan started the conversation by saying, "It is always a pleasure to represent Bengal. And there is nothing as sweet as a comeback when you are down and about to lose. Performing well for the team feels great."

Ex-KKR pacer Sayan Ghosh in action for @Mohun_Bagan

Does his action resemble anyone? #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/mPaLkt1Rr5

— Koushik Biswas (@kbofficial25) November 28, 2023

Impact of Bengal Pro T20 League

Sayan feels, along with doing well for Mohun Bagan in the club format, the Bengal Pro T20 League has helped him be in the best form possible. 

"I must say, performance in BPL gave me confidence," Sayan told Sportz Point.

"I didn’t take too much pressure for the whole season because I knew if I did well, I would play. I had belief in myself. Captain Sudip (Gharami), coaches Laxmi (Ratan Shukla) da and Maco (Shib Shankar Paul) da gave confidence. So, I didn’t take a lot of pressure."

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Sayan ghosh (@16sayan)

Focusing on the basics

A few seasons back, Sayan had a longer run-up which caused him a few injuries. But, post the 2022 season, he shortened his run-up to avoid such injuries which helped him gain more control. Keeping this in mind, Sportz Point wanted to know if he had done anything special to prepare for this grand comeback. 

However, as per Sayan, he just kept doing the basic things over and over to get better at everything. "I do lots of fitness work and spot bowling. It helps me a lot," Sayan added while answering the question. 

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

"Trust in GOD"

Regardless of how, for a sportsperson, a comeback is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical battle. Back in 2022, in an exclusive interview with Sportz Point, Sayan shared that "rejections do not deject him." 

But, saying that and actually having that mental strength are two different things altogether. For Sayan, it was all about being present and believing in God. 

"There comes a time in every sportsman's life when they stop worrying about the outcome, trust in God, and fully immerse themselves in the process. So, that was my thinking just to be in the present and wait for my turn," Sayan expressed. 

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

During tough periods like these, players always get some people clapping and cheering for them. For Sayan, along with his family, there were a few people, who guided and supported him throughout the process. 

"Maco da (Shib Shankar Paul) and Kanchan (Maity) da gave me chances in BPL And Laxmi (Ratan Shukla) da helped me and gave me a chance to come back in Bengal Cricket." 

"I must say about Akash da, one of my colleagues in my office, who is a very good bowler himself. He supported me in every aspect of my life. I think without his support, I could not have made the come back like that," Sayan stated.

Age? Not a problem

But, in this process of being in and out of the team, Sayan has reached an age where most cricketers start to reach the end of their careers. But, not all. 

Cricketers like Scott Boland have proved that, if you can keep putting in the hard work, even as a fast bowler you can debut and play at the highest level even after 30. Sayan believes that too. 

"Hope keeps us alive. I don’t think a lot about the outcome. But, when you have a goal to achieve something big in your professional career, you always stay motivated," the 32-year-old shared. 

"There is nothing as sweet as a comeback, when you are down and about to lose. If you are thinking about a comeback, you have to keep pushing the boundaries. I have small targets to do well in club cricket and give Mohunbagan trophies. I want to make a strong impact in Bengal Cricket in every format."

Read Also | Exclusive | "Felt like my debut:" Bengal pacer Ishan Porel now wants to enjoy his cricket after a solid comeback to first-class cricket

The love for "Red Cherry"

Now, after a great white-ball return, Sayan Ghosh wants to don the whites for Bengal again. Amidst all the success around white-ball cricket, his love for red-ball cricket remained the same; like a 10-year-old with a new ball in hand. 

"We are playing well in all formats, especially in the Ranji trophy. It was unfortunate for us not to qualify despite playing well in the group stages. The Bihar match and the Kerala match were gone because of the rain and that was the reason (we could not qualify). 

"The last time I played a Ranji Trophy game was in 2017. I have played 6 matches and got two five-wicket hauls. However, because of certain team combinations, I haven't played red-ball cricket in a long time now. 

"My belief is always there to make a strong comeback in red ball cricket."

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.

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

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 

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

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

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?

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 

1. Sudip Chatterjee - 441 at 55.12
2. Sudip Gharami - 331 at 41.37
3. Anustup Majumdar - 228 at 28.50 

2023-24 

1. Anustup Majumdar 510 at 63.75
2. Abishek Porel 377 at 41.88
3. Abhimanyu Easwaran 337 at 168.50

2022-23 

1. Anustup Majumdar 867 at 61.92
2. Sudip Gharami 803 at 50.18
3. Abhimanyu Easwaran 798 at 66.50

#6 | Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal - The Lone Warrior

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

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

2023-24

1. Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 6 matches 31 wickets
2. Mohammed Kaif 6 matches 17 wickets

What future holds for Bengal Ranji Team?

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.