As with every IPL season, the 2026 auction saw homegrown Bengal players largely ignored. Despite hopes for players like Karan Lal and Ravi Kumar, both failed to draw interest from franchises, a recurring pattern that calls for bolder strategies from Bengal cricketers.
Akash Deep and Brijesh Kumar were the two who were picked during the auction, while Mohammed Shami, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, and Abishek Porel were already part of the IPL franchises, Lucknow Super Giants and Delhi Capitals.
During the successful years of the Kolkata Knight Riders, we have seen multiple Bengali players getting into the Bengal team and performing well at one of the biggest stages of world cricket. Wriddhiman Saha, Manoj Tiwary, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Shreevats Goswami, Ashok Dinda, and Sourav Ganguly - all performed well for their respective franchises during their peak.
But in the last few seasons, apart from Abishek Porel, none of the homegrown Bengal players were able to get any team in the auction. While looking for the answer, Sportz Point contacted former Bengal and IPL cricketer Shreevats Goswami after the IPL 2026 auction.
"We need to see more 220-230 runs games in BPT20L"
Goswami, the first-ever winner of the IPL Emerging Trophy, played for Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and KKR during his time and knows a lot about what it takes to be an IPL player and being successful at it.
Bengal was one of the first state associations to have its own state T20 league when it started the Rox Bengal T20 Challenge. However, it took them many more years to finally start it in a bigger way with the Bengal Pro T20 League. But even after two seasons of the Bengal Pro T20 League, Bengal fans have not seen any stars from the state emerge or get into the IPL teams.
Goswami, closely involved with the Bengal Pro T20 League as a commentator, believes that Bengal players must take a bolder approach; hitting more sixes is the key to getting noticed by IPL scouts and franchises.
Although the weather and the rain played their part during the preparation of the pitches ahead of the second season of the tournament, other states' leagues got ahead of Bengal Pro T20 League by producing bigger scores.
“Look, it's quite simple. It's a T20 game, and you need to see more games around 220-230. We have seen 230 getting chased in other state leagues. So, a bit better pitches with more runs and more sixes would definitely help the Bengal players get more noticed,” Goswami said.
"Be more expressive, hit more sixes to get noticed"
During his exclusive interview with Sportz Point before the start of the Bengal Pro T20 league, Goswami had already stated that he wanted to see more sixes in the tournament. He feels that to get into IPL teams now, he will have to stand out, and you will have to be expressive in your state leagues.
"You cannot just think about getting out or other things. You need to be expressive and stand out as a player to attract the scouts and IPL teams," he added.
Not only at the Bengal Pro T20 League level, but Goswami also wants the club cricketers to be more fearless and score big runs to get noticed.
"If you are playing at the club level, be it first division or second division, you need to score big runs. If you are playing at the second division level, score 300's. If you are playing in the first division, you need to score double hundreds or something like that to get noticed, just like what other state players do," he expressed.
Apart from these two points, the former Bengal cricketer wants to see more new faces in the Bengal team. He wants to see all the youngsters who are doing well in the Bengal Pro T20 League get a chance to play for Bengal in tournaments like the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
“If anyone is doing well at the Bengal Pro T20 League, like I have seen with Nuruddin Mundal, we need to blood these youngsters into the senior team as soon as possible so that we can see them playing in tournaments like the SMAT. And then if they do well, they will surely get noticed by IPL franchises.”
Read also: Fast, accurate and fearless: Nuruddin Mondal bowling bouncer to life every day.
Inject the white-ball format at the grassroot level
Along with this, Goswami feels that Bengal needs to grow more players from the grassroot level and inject the white ball format from the under-15 level. Drawing comparison with 14-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Goswami suggested that cricketers from that young age need to be groomed well for stages like IPL and be more fearless and expressive.
Moreover, the former Southpaw opener suggested that the senior players play more white-ball tournaments outside Bengal to get habituated with hitting sixes in bigger grounds and scoring against better quality bowlers.
“I would love to see Bengal players getting out of their comfort zones and playing in white-ball tournaments outside Bengal, expressing themselves in those tournaments,” Goswami shared.
"Do not shy away from social media - but walk the talk"
In addition, Goswami wants the players not to shy away from posting their videos on platforms like Instagram, because many players are getting discovered via social media. But, he again reaffirmed that performance is the last thing that teams see.
“Yeah, you need to do the social media things as well nowadays. But you need to walk the talk and perform everywhere you get chances. Because that is the last thing that will give you success.”
