It is uncommon in India for a girl to pursue a career in sports without facing skepticism from family and friends. Four years ago, Sonali Das from Habibpur, Nadia, picked up a cricket ball to bowl after being inspired by videos of Jhulan Goswami. At that time, many doubted her aspirations, and some even laughed at her.

However, in just four years, the 16-year-old has turned those doubts into confidence and laughter into applause. She bowls like Malinga, a fact that becomes immediately evident to anyone who sees her bowl.

With an impressive 8-wicket haul in the semi-finals of the U-16 Girls School Cricket and receiving the Bowler of the Tournament award in the presence of her idol, Jhulan Goswami, Sonali now has her sights set on representing Bengal in the upcoming Bengal Pro T20 League 2025.

Recently, Sonali was selected by the Adamas Howrah Warriors for this prestigious tournament, an opportunity that brings her one step closer to realising her dreams. Sportz Point had the privilege of hearing her inspiring story in an exclusive interview.

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

"Watching Jhulan Maam's videos inspired me to play cricket"

Sonali fell in love with cricket at the age of 12, captivated by Jhulan Goswami's bowling. Like countless other girls in the country, she aspired to emulate the greatest bowler in women's cricket history. Notably, both Jhulan and Sonali hail from the same district in Nadia, West Bengal.

"I started getting attached and loving this game after watching Jhulan Goswami maa'm bowl. I just loved how she used to clean up stumps at the international level. Everything started from there for me," Sonali told Sportz Point. 

However, convincing the family to support a sporting career can be challenging, especially for a 12-year-old girl in India.

"Initially, my father was reluctant to send me to a cricket coaching centre. But after COVID, I managed to persuade him to enrol me in a coaching centre in Ranaghat," Sonali recounted.

Sonali's journey began at a cricket coaching camp in Ranaghat, where her unique bowling style caught the attention of others, though she also faced harsh criticism. During a U-14 District Zonal camp, coach Paramita Roy noticed Sonali’s accuracy and aggressiveness and believed that with proper training, Sonali could become a future star for Bengal. 

Soon, Sonali started her 3-hour-long train journey three days a week to reach her goals. And, Goutam Das, Sonali's father, understood that her daughter was born to do something great in cricket.

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

Getting noticed by the greats during the Girls' School Tournament

As the training started under Paramita Roy, Goutam Das felt that to help her daughter shine in cricket, she needed to be closer to the coaching camp and avoid a long journey. Along with that, he realised that Sonali needed to play more tournaments to enhance her skills. 

Soon, he admitted Sonali to Infocus India Public School so that Sonali could take part in the C.A.B. Organised U-16 Girls School Cricket. And that tournament turned out to be a turning point for Sonali. 

"I began working under Paramita Ma'am and improved rapidly as a bowler. She also focused on my batting so I could contribute valuable runs in the lower order," Sonali explained.

"With my progress, I gained support from everyone around me. Now, I live in a rented place in Kolkata to minimise travel for practice. My father has been my biggest supporter on this journey," she emphasised. 

"Playing in the U-16 Girls' School Cricket tournament changed the trajectory of my career. I was noticed by many former Indian cricketers like Jhulan (Goswami) Maa'm, Lopamudra Bhattacharji) Maa'm and Gargi (Banerjee) Maa'm during the tournament. They all gave me some valuable advice to improve and work on."

That 8/9 in the semi-final

Sonali's moment came when she rattled through South Point High School, batting line up and returned with a bowling figure of 8 for 9 runs and also scored 22 runs as Infocus India Public School defeated South Point by 306 runs. Sonali received the Player of the match award from former India cricketer Gargi Banerjee, which she feels is one of the best moments of her career.

In the final against Behala Kishore Bharati Girls' High School, Sonali again returned with 3 wickets for only 9 runs as Infocus India Public School won the tournament. Sonali won the "Best Bowler of the Tournament" award for taking 15 wickets in just 5 matches. 

Read Also | Exclusive | Taunts to Claps: Priyanka Bala's journey from rural village of Nadia to WPL

From school cricket to senior cricket

This helped her get drafted into the C.A.B. Women's Club Tournament, where she got the chance to go shoulder to shoulder against some of the best in Bengal cricket. In the C.A.B. Women's Club Cricket League (ONE-DAY) Tournament 2024-2025, Sonali returned with 9 wickets in 6 matches at an average of 18.67, to gain the trust of Adamas Howarh Warriors Franchise to pick her for the Bengal Pro T20 League 2025.

"I am thankful to everyone in the Adamas Howrah Warriors for picking me for this huge tournament. I am delighted to get this opportunity," Sonali stated. 

"My immediate goal is to help the franchise do well in the tournament under Dhara (Gujjar) di. And then play for the Bengal U-19 team. I know if I can make myself ready for the U-19 level, I will be doing good. It is all about taking it step by step," the 16-year-old pacer shared. 

Post the Bengal Pro T20 League 2025, Sonali will be shifting to Kolkata along with her parents to fully focus on cricket. She now just wants to make her parents and family proud.

"We will be shifting to Kolkata permanently only for my cricket. I just want to make my parents and family proud and happy," she expressed.

The Bengal Pro Women's T20 League 2025 will start from 16th May, till 4th June at the M.G.R. Sports Academy Ground in Birbhum, West Bengal. 

The Bengal Pro T20 League, a premier domestic cricket competition in West Bengal, is meant to be a stage for local talent to shine. Launched to nurture and showcase Bengal’s cricketers, the league has been a source of pride for the state’s cricket fans.

However, the recently concluded Season 2 draft has sparked a firestorm of controversy. Reports have surfaced that outstation players—those not originally from West Bengal—are being registered as Bengal players, allegedly through falsified documentation.

This practice has raised serious ethical and legal questions, with fans and critics alike accusing the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and franchise teams of undermining the spirit of the league. Today, we dive into why this is not just unfair but potentially illegal, and what it means for the future of Bengal cricket.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the India U19 (men's) squad for the upcoming England tour, scheduled from June 24 to July 23, 2025.

This tour will have a 50-over warm-up match, followed by a five-match Youth One-Day series and two Multi-Day matches against England U19.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who has already made his name as the youngest ever centurion in IPL history at just 14 years of age, has been picked for the tour. Another IPL star, Ayush Mahtre, who has impressed with his striking abilities for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2025, has been made the captain of the squad.

Abhigyan Kundu will be Mahtre's deputy for the whole tour. 

Bengal pacer Yudhajit Guha has been named in the squad as well. Guha had earlier featured for the India U19 team in the U-19 Asia Cup as well. 

Read Also | Exclusive: "Do not call him a 'baccha', he will play T20s for India in two years," says Bihar head coach after Vaibhav Suryavanshi's historical IPL ton

India U19 squad for the England tour

India U19 Squad: Ayush Mhatre (Captain), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Vihaan Malhotra, Maulyarajsinh Chavda, Rahul Kumar, Abhigyan Kundu (Vice-Captain & WK), Harvansh Singh (WK), R S Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan, Khilan Patel, Henil Patel, Yudhajit Guha, Pranav Raghavendra, Mohammed Enaan, Aditya Rana, Anmoljeet Singh

Standby Players: Naman Pushpak, D Deepesh, Vedant Trivedi, Vikalp Tiwari, Alankrith Rapole (WK)

Full Schedule of the tour

In recent years and decades, Bengal cricket has frequently witnessed the emergence of players from outside the region, who quickly become integral to Bengal's cricket scene. This trend was evident during the recently concluded draft for the Men's Bengal Pro T20 League 2025.

It is important to clarify that we are not referring to outstation players, like Rohan Gavaskar and Arun Lal, who came to Bengal from other states and made it their home for cricket.

Instead, we are talking about cricketers from outside West Bengal who are arriving here and illegally obtaining Aadhaar cards and other documents with false addresses.

Fake addresses, corruption and outsiders in Bengal cricket

These players are rapidly rising through the ranks, some based on merit while others without any noteworthy performances, and they are moving on to represent the state at various levels. Furthermore, those who are advancing are bringing more players from their home states to Bengal and creating paths for them.

This situation points to a larger conspiracy involving club officials who are allegedly accepting bribes. Some of these officials are supposedly encouraging players to participate without payment in exchange for assisting them in gaining entry into Bengal under-age teams or even the Bengal Pro T20 League squads.

It's worth noting that platforms like the Bengal Pro T20 League provide players with exposure to IPL scouts and teams, which can significantly boost their careers. Players like Sai Sudharasan, Priyansh Arya, Digvesh Rathi, Vipraj Nigam, and Ashwani Kumar have all emerged from their respective state T20 leagues.

Consequently, these outstation players have come to believe that if they cannot succeed in their own state, they can come to Bengal, create illegal documents, collaborate with certain club officials, and gain access to platforms like the Bengal Pro T20 League.

This situation is depriving talented young cricketers from Bengal, who have been performing well at the club level, of opportunities.

In a recent video, presented in Bengali, Sportz Point addressed these issues, which was well received within the Bengal cricket community. We have translated this information into English to ensure the message reaches a wider audience across the nation.

Siddharth Patidar - supposed to play in both MPT20 League and Bengal Pro T20 League

One such instance is Siddharth Patidar, a player from Madhya Pradesh who has represented MP in the past and participated in the MP T20 League since 2022. He is now claimed to be a local player in Bengal.

Patidar is currently a member of the Jabalpur Royal Lions and will be playing under Saransh Jain in the tournament.

How can a player local to the MP T20 League also be considered a local player in West Bengal? This suggests he was provided with illegal documentation to verify his status as a Bengal domestic player. 

The MP T20 League is set to commence on June 12, and it will be interesting to see how Patidar competes in two different state leagues, claiming residency in both Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Patidar was drafted in Srachi Rarh Tigers in Bengal Men's Pro T20 League 2025.

Sandeep Tomar - played in UP T20 League, but has documents of West Bengal

Another player, Sandeep Tomar, known to be from Uttar Pradesh, also appears to possess Bengal documents in his name. Sandeep has previously participated in the UP T20 League as a local player, and last season, he played in the Bengal Pro T20 League as a local player.

This raises the implication that Sandeep, too, has illegally registered as a Bengal player with the Cricket Association of Bengal. 

Not only these two players, but reports indicate that multiple athletes are arriving from various states and illegitimately registering as Bengal players with forged documents. Clearly, such actions cannot occur without the support of officials.

C.A.B.'s efforts to stop this

Recently, the Cricket Association of Bengal announced that from the next season, all players will be required to submit bank documents that are more than three years old, along with their parents' documents, before registering. However, the pressing question remains: If they can not even stop a daylight robbery, will they be able to stop outstation players' entry? Only time will tell.

As a result, many deserving players from Bengal, who have been topping charts in runs, wickets, and trophy wins, have been deprived of the opportunities they rightfully deserve.

Numerous players expressed feelings of frustration, sadness, and hopelessness after the events that unfolded during the draft for the Men's Bengal Pro T20 League.

The Bengal Pro T20 League Season 2 kicked off its preparations with a grand men’s draft ceremony on Monday, where a staggering 802 cricketers were selected by eight franchises at a city hotel on Monday. 

8 franchises, led by their retained players and coaches along with their owners, selected their squads for the upcoming season.

CAB Office bearers led by President Snehasish Ganguly, Vice President Amalendu Biswas, Secretary Naresh Ojha, Treasurer Prabir Chakrabarty, Joint Secretary Debabrata Das along with India cricket legend Sourav Ganguly, women’s cricket icon Jhulan Goswami were present for the draft. 

"I hope you will all witness an exciting draft process in the next few hours. I am sure we will have an even more successful Bengal Pro T20 League season this time," Sourav Ganguly said during the event. 

Read Also | Exclusive: "I would love to see more sixes, more runs," Shreevats Goswami wants bigger scores in Bengal Pro T20 League 2025

A+ category players will get INR 4,75,000, A grade players will get INR 3,75,000, while B and C category players will receive INR 1,50,000. D category players will get INR 1,50,000. 

Full squads of Bengal Pro T20 League 2025 (men's)

Shrachi Rarh Tigers

• Shahbaz Ahmed
• Pradipta Pramanik
• Sumanta Gupta
• Ashutosh Kumar
• Ravi Kumar
• Sayan Shekhar Mondal
• Kazi Junaid Saifi
• Pritam Chakraborty
• Gaurav Singh Chauhan
• Abhishek Das
• Siddharth Patidar
• Abhijeet Bhagat
• Md Shami
• Saikat Das
• Ayan Bhattacharyaa
• Avirup Gupta
• Mayank Jha

Read Also | Exclusive: "Do not call him a 'baccha', he will play T20s for India in two years," says Bihar head coach after Vaibhav Suryavanshi's historical IPL ton

ServoTech Siliguri Strikers

• Akash Deep
• Suraj Singhu Jaiswal
• Vikas Singh
• Tarun Godara
• Ankur Paul
• Subham Chatterjee
• Nuruddin Mondal
• Irshad Alam
• Ankush Tyagi
• Sourav Paul
• Mithilesh Das
• Raju Halder
• Pawan
• Lokesh
• Aditya Singh
• Shivamm Bharati
• Sachin Yadav

Rashmi Medinipur Wizards

• Sudip Chatterjee
• Vivek Singh
• Priyanshu Srivastava
• Vaibhav Yadav
• Ritwik Roy Chowdhury
• Ranjot Singh Khaira
• Rajkumar Pal
• Soumyadip Mandal
• Sandipan Das Jr
• Sourav Halder
• Rahul Kundu
• Akash Ghatak
• Rahul Gupta
• Pankaj Shaw
• Aishik Patel
• Ayush Ghosh
• Jagmohan Prasad Gupta

Read Also | Bengal Pro T20 League Exclusive: 9 cricketers teams should go after, who did not play or got picked last time

Adamas Howrah Warriors

• Aamir Gani
• Kanishk Seth
• Shakir Habib Gandhi
• Pramod Chandila
• Sujit Kumar Yadav
• Saksham Sharma
• Yuvraj Deepak Keswani
• Shreyan Chakrabarty
• Shashank Singh
• Deepak Kumar
• Debangshu Pakhira
• Jayveer Singh
• Rohit
• Sachin Chaudhary
• Arindam Ghosh
• Agniswar Das
• Agastya Shukla

Lux-Shyam Kolkata Royal Tigers

• Abishek Porel
• Karan Lal
• Sayan Ghosh
• Akash Pandey
• Sandeep Kumar Tomar
• Ayush Kumar Singh
• Anurag Tiwari
• Md Kaif
• Sandipan Das
• Debopratim Halder
• Ronit Ghosh
• Vipin Chandra
• Harsh Vardhan Jajodia
• Arjun Kumar
• Sanjib Goswami
• Bhoirob De Sarkar
• Dron Chatterjee

Harbour Diamonds

• Prayas Ray Barman
• Manoj Tiwary
• Badal Singh Balyan
• Subham Sarkar
• Chandrahas Dash
• Vishal Bhati
• Kaushik Maity
• Geet Puri
• Pradeep Kumar
• Priyank Patel
• Abhishek Raman
• Rahul Prasad
• Abhimanyu Easwaran
• Balkesh Yadav
• Prakash Kr Roy
• Kaushik Giri
• Ankit Chatterjee
• Vijay Srivastava

Murshidabad Kings

• Sudip Kumar Gharami
• Agniv Pan
• Sukhmeet Singh
• Vikas Singh
• Toufik Uddin Mondal
• Saksham Chaudhury
• Rishabh Chaudhary
• Dilshad Khan
• Saurabh Kumar Singh
• Aniket Singh
• Tanmoy Pramanick
• Sayed Irfan Aftab
• Priyam Sarkar
• Koushik Ghosh
• Nikhil Singh
• Ankit Chatterjee
• Sayan Paul

Sobisco Smashers Malda

• Mukesh Kumar
• Writtick Chatterjee
• Kaif Ahmed
• Ramesh Prasad
• Akhil
• Shuvam Dey Sr
• Gitimoy Basu
• Brijesh Sharma
• Arjun Bharadwaj
• Avilin Ghosh
• Sumit Mohanta
• Viraj Krishna
• Harsimar Singh Patheja
• V Venkat Raj
• Sk Janishar Akhatar Nishar
• Arjun Singh
• Aditya Roy

Abdul Monayem is a name that will go down in the history of Kolkata Club Cricket without any doubt. The former fast bowler joined Bhowanipur Club as a coach in 2009-10, when the team had just been promoted to the first division. Since then, he has helped them win three league titles along with multiple trophies.

Not only that, he helped East Bengal win the P.Sen trophy this season and qualify for the league final after nearly ten years. 

Monayem retires from club coaching 

After spending 20 years in club cricket and emerging as one of the most successful club coaches, Abdul Monayem decided to retire from club coaching. 

But why? 

Monayem answered the reason, along with sharing his future goal, in an exclusive interview with Sportz Point, just one day after the announcement via a Facebook post.

"This is a very personal decision. Just woke up that morning and felt like I was not enjoying it anymore. So, decided to leave club coaching," Monayem answered when Sportz Point asked him about the reason for calling it a day at club level. 

"Even after the last season for Bhowanipur, I was thinking about this. But two seasons back, Nitu (Debabrata) Sarkar invited me to take up the challenge to help the East Bengal cricket team become a winning side. So, I took up the challenge," he added. 

Read Also | Bengal Pro T20 League Exclusive: 9 cricketers teams should go after, who did not play or got picked last time

Abdul Monayem won nearly every possible trophy for the Bhowanipur Cricket club, and when he joined East Bengal, the goal was to make them win trophies.

"When I joined East Bengal two seasons back, the team was already made. This season, I was able to make the team. We won the P.Sen trophy and will play the league final again. Very happy to get them back to winning ways," Monayem shared. 

Will Monayem be there for East Bengal in the league final?

But, with his announcement now, the big question raised is whether he will be able to be there for the East Bengal cricket club during the big league final against Bhowanipur this season? 

Monayem answered, "NO".

Abdul Monayem will travel to France to attend his son's convocation and support him on this important day.

Along with players, coaches, and staff always miss the chance to be there for their families and with their son's one of the biggest days approaching, Monayem does not want to miss the chance to be there for him. 

That is why he had already informed East Bengal that if they reach the final, he will not be there on the sidelines. East Bengal club also respected his decision and accepted the letter from Monayem. 

"I will be visiting France for my son's convocation. My wife and I will both be there. I have missed a lot of things for cricket and coaching. I did not want to miss this."

So, I had sent a letter to East Bengal earlier that if we reach the final, I will not be there for the team. East Bengal also respected my decision and accepted the letter," Monayem shared. 

Read Also | Exclusive: "I would love to see more sixes, more runs," Shreevats Goswami wants bigger scores in Bengal Pro T20 League 2025

Monayem's secret sauce

Throughout his coaching career, Abdul Monayem not only won trophies for his club but also developed players who can contribute to Bengal cricket in the long run. He has helped several accomplished players return to the Bengal team. 

Shib Shankar Paul, Saurasish Lahiri, and Arnab Nandi are just a few of the names who managed to return to the Bengal Ranji team after excelling under Monayem at Bhowanipur Club.

Players like Ravikant Singh, Sumit Mohanta, Sourav Paul, and Agniv Pan made their first-class debuts for Bengal after playing under Monayem.

"Before signing any player, I used to ask them if they only had a dream of playing the Ranji trophy for Bengal, then sign for my club," Monayem answered.

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"I did not become a coach to earn money"

Monayem, who loves to read and write about cricket and coaching, follows the great P.K. Banerjee's style of coaching, where he tries to develop a one-on-one connection with players more than anything else. 

As per Monayem, knowing the pulse of the players and then instilling faith in them is the main thing of coaching. If any coach can do that, they will win half the battle. 

Since the beginning of Sportz Point, multiple Bengal cricketers have mentioned Abdul Monayem in their interviews, and more than winning any trophies, Monayem feels this is his biggest achievement in his coaching career. 

"I did not become a coach to earn money. I did not do this for money," Abdul Monayem expressed. 

"I became a coach to stay in touch with them. Chitrak Mitra, the former BCCI vice-president, gave me the responsibility at that time and told me that I was good enough to be a coach."

"Since then, my only goal has been to create valuable cricketers and give Bengal a few cricketing stars."

"I have only one regret from club cricket"

Despite all the success, Abdul Monayem has only one regret within himself. He wished to give Bengal cricket an iconic cricketer like Sourav Ganguly, but he feels he failed to do so. 

Monayem, who gave Abishek Porel his first break in the first division cricket and told him that he bats like Brian Lara, believes Porel can be the next big star from Bengal. But, after all of these years, Monayem knows that to find and create the next Sourav Ganguly, he will have to go back to the roots and scout talent from the U-13 level. 

Taking the reference of Mumbai cricket, Monayem said, "You saw how they have stands named after so many players. They keep on creating iconic players season after season. I believe in Bengal we can also do that, given we have the system and infrastructure."

This is why Monayem now wants to scout and find young talents for Bengal, only if the Cricket Association of Bengal finds him worthy enough for that role. 

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

"I want to scout and work with young kids to find and make the next Sourav Ganguly"

At A.S.O.S, Monayem trains 30 kids for free so that Bengal cricket's next generation is in safe hands. Players like Rahul Prasad have emerged from Monayem's A.S.O.S camps. 

Read Also | From delivering online food to getting selected for India U-19 camp, Rahul Prasad's journey is an inspiring one

"If you want to have iconic players like Sourav Ganguly, who inspired multiple generations of Bengal cricketers, you will have to find them young and make them believe they can rule Indian cricket. I want to do that work for Bengal, if C.A.B. feels I am good enough for that job," Monayem stated. 

Emphasising icons like Sourav Ganguly and Jhulan Goswami's roles in Bengal cricket, Monayem added, "Only if we can have global icons like them from Bengal, then only we will be able to secure Bengal cricket's future."

Abdul Monayem's club coaching career

• High Court Club (2004-05 to 2005-06)

  • Marked the start of coaching career after a 20-year playing career.
  • Opportunity provided by Pankaj Mallick and Binay Mishra.
  • Coached under captain Rajiv Dutta (now an NCA Coach).
  • Key players: Sourav Sil, Bunty Gowala.
  • Focused on building a strong team dynamic, laying the foundation for coaching philosophy.

• Mohun Bagan (2006-07 to 2007-08)

  • Joined through Dipankar Hazra and Anjan Mitra.
  • Seasons led by captains Palash Bhowmick, Utpal Chatterjee (2006-07), and Manoj Tiwary (2007-08).
  • Notable players: Chaminda Vass (JC Mukherjee Trophy), Virat Kohli (P Sen Trophy), Wriddhiman Saha, Debabrata Das, Dharmendra Singh, Sabir Ali, Safi Ahmed, Sougata Dutta.
  • Achieved significant success due to team talent and dedication.

• South Eastern Railway Team BNR (2008-09)

  • Coached under captain Soham Ghosh.
  • Brief tenure but enriched with valuable experiences and team spirit.

• Bhawanipore Club (2009-10 to 2022-23)

  • Invited by Chitak Mitra to rebuild a struggling 1st Division team.
  • Coached for 14 seasons, nurturing young Bengali talents and experienced players.
  • Key players included: Shiv Shankar Paul, Sourasish Lahiri, Charanji Singh, Arnab Nandy, Subhajit Banerjee, Aritra Chatterjee, Amit Biswas, Jayojit Basu, Abhishek Das, Writtick Chatterjee, Debopriya Ghosh, Kamal Hassan Mandol, Soumya Pakre, Arunlal Yadav, Dibyendu Chakraborty, Abhishek Choudhury, Partha Sarathi Bhattacharya, Prinann Dutta, Ravikat Singh, Sandipan Das, Agniv Pan, Abhishek Raman, Amir Gani, Kaushik Ghosh, Pradipta Pramanik, Writam Porel, Geet Puri, Prosenjit Das, Sujit Yadav, B. Amit, Nilkantha Das, Ayan Bhattacharya, Alok Pratap Singh, Uddipan Mukherjee, Sryean Chakraborty, Abhishek Porel (2018, now a Bengal and IPL star), Mukesh Kumar (now an Indian pacer).
  • Focused on developing young talent, leading to significant player growth and success.

• East Bengal Club (2023-25)

  • Won the P.Sen Trophy 2024-25 and helped East Bengal reach the league final of 2024-25 season.