Three months after opting out of the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 league stage, Wriddhiman Saha has returned to the Bengal squad ahead of the quarter-final against Jharkhand in Bengaluru from June 6.
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) also named fast bowler Mohammed Shami in the squad. However, his participation will need a clearance from the BCCI and head coach Rahul Dravid taking his workload management into account. The squad will be led by Abhimanyu Easwaran.
However, it was 37-year-old Saha whose comeback is a big talking point, given he skipped the league stage citing "personal reasons". That decision came on the back of Saha being left out of India's Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka. After that selection meeting, it came to light that he had been told by head coach Dravid that he may not be in the scheme of things going forward.
Saha has been in scintillating form in the ongoing IPL, scoring 281 runs from eight matches at a strike rate of 123.24 with three 50-plus scores, including one Player of the match performance.
Saha aside, the squad has second wicketkeeper in young Abhishek Porel, who impressed in his absence. There was no place for veteran wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami, who continued to be left out of the squad. Goswami is currently in England playing club cricket.
The squad also includes Shami's younger brother Mohammed Kaif and left-arm spinner Ankit Mishra, who bowled well at the Under-25 level. He is the third left-arm spinner after Shahbaz Ahmed and Pradipta Pramanik.
Experienced medium pacer Nilkantha Das was also included and so was opener Sudip Gharami, despite a season of non-performance. Junior state sports minister Manoj Tiwary was also a part of the squad.
Squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (capt), Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Mohammed Shami, Anustup Majumdar, Sudip Chatterjee, Shahbaz Ahmed, Abhishek Raman, Writtick Chatterjee, Sayan Sekhar Mondal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Ishan Porel, Koushik Ghosh, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Pradipta Pramanik, Karan Lal, Nilkantha Das, Sudip Gharami, Abhishek Porel, Mohammed Kaif, Ankit Mishra