Manoj Tewari departs after his fine 94 at the Wankhede on Monday

Mumbai: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly rated the current Bengal side as one of the best ever and believed that quite a few players have it in them to make the Team India cut in future.

“This is a very good sign for Bengal cricket as a whole, as this team has got 4-5 players who can be India’s future,” Sourav said at the Wankhede Stadium, after Bengal lost the Ranji Trophy final to Mumbai by 132 runs, on Monday.

Despite the loss, Sourav was counting on the positives. “Reaching the final twice in a row is no joke and if the boys can keep it up, I can see them winning the trophy in near future,” he pointed out.

“It’s true that we reached a point from where we could have won it, but two quick wickets of Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Rohan Gavaskar changed the whole complexion of our fight.

“But there was no shame in losing the final. After having failed in the first innings, we fought back really well and almost made it,” he added.

Sourav — who has played three Ranji Trophy finals (1989-90, 1993-94 and 2006-07) so far — picked Manoj Tewari and Ranadeb Bose for special mention. “Both Manoj and Ranadeb have played well throughout the season and thanks to their efforts, we made the final. Manoj is young and I’m sure he’ll sharpen his skills further,” he observed.

He also defended Tewari’s knack of playing risky shots, which eventually led to his downfall at the crucial juncture of Bengal’s chase. After Tewari’s exit, Bengal seemed to have lost the plot and their last six wickets fell for just five runs. “Manoj is young and he will learn from the mistakes, but the innings he played today deserves a lot of accolade,” Sourav said.

When asked about Zaheer Khan’s remark that the bowler enjoyed edge over him in the first-class cricket, Sourav promptly replied: “You all saw it today that I played my shots well against him. Zaheer, however, is a class bowler.”

On the issue of India players’ participation in the domestic cricket, the elegant left-hander felt that a crowded international schedule had made it difficult.

“It’s tough to play both, but I wanted to play this final and, off course, wanted to win as I don’t when the next opportunity will come to me,” he said.

Last but not the least, the Prince of Calcutta is eager to go back to Eden and make a big score against the Sri Lankans in the first of the four ODIs on Thursday. “It’s always great to play at the Eden and I hope to get a big score there,” Sourav signed off.