Laxmi Ratan Shukla

Calcutta: It’s official. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, the man who turned his back on the ICL after committing to the rebel league, will lead Bengal in the Ranji Trophy this season. Off-spinner Sourashish Lahiri will be his deputy.

The selectors didn’t take too long in making the decision and naming 14 who will do duty in the first two matches. Seven more players were named to make it a pool of 21 for the entire Ranji season.

Bengal begin their campaign in the Elite competition against Hyderabad at the Eden on November 4, followed by an away game against Baroda (from November 15).

Bengal’s other group B matches — versus Orissa, UP, Punjab and Andhra — are all at home.

“Laxmi is a proven performer with a lot of experience,” said Arup Bhattacharya, the chairman of the selection committee.

The others present at Saturday’s meeting were his colleague Barun Burman, coach Bharat Arun and CAB assistant secretary Snehasish Ganguly. Saradindu Mukherjee and Kalyan Chowdhury — the selectors who are out of station — had already conveyed their views to Bhattacharya.

Asked why Manoj Tiwary was not considered for captaincy, Bhattacharya said: “He is Bengal’s best prospect and we want him to concentrate on batting… we don’t want to burden him with extra responsibility at this juncture.”

The squad for the first two matches is more or less on expected lines. Middle-order batsman Safi Ahmed and left-arm spinner Murtaza Lodhgar have earned a recall.

Lodhgar has been included in the XIV keeping in mind the second match. The Bengal think tank expects the Vadodara pitch to be spinner-friendly where two slow bowlers could be needed in the XI.

For the Eden contest, though, Bengal will field three seamers — Ranadeb Bose, Shib Shankar Paul and Sourav Sarkar being the likely trio — and a lone spinner (Sourashish).

The only drawback is the absence of a second wicketkeeper. Wriddhiman Saha is the lone gloveman in the 21.

SQUAD FOR FIRST 2 GAMES

Laxmi Ratan Shukla (captain), Sourashish Lahiri (vice-captain), Arindam Das, Amitava Chakraborty, Manoj Tiwary, Safi Ahmed, Kamal Hasan Mondal, Anustup Majumdar, Wriddhiman Saha, Ranadeb Bose, Shib Shankar Paul, Sourav Sarkar, Ashok Dinda, Murtaza Lodhgar

THE OTHER SEVEN

Priyankar Mukherjee, Mohammed Ashrafuddin, Avik Chowdhury, Rana Chowdhury, Amit Biswas, Iresh Saxena, Surajit Das.