Looking beyond the Dhanbad debacle, Dalmiya & Co decide to stick with the mercurial allrounder as captain for the Ranji Trophy; formal announcement to be made today

After much heartburn following the disastrous campaign in Dhanbad, the CAB mandarins seem to have decided that it’s too late now to change the Bengal captaincy. On Tuesday, the selectors will meet to pick the final squad for the Ranji Trophy, and they are expected to announce that Laxmi Ratan Shukla will continue to be the captain.

Bengal will open their Ranji Trophy account against Maharashtra at Pune on November 3, and as things stand, Shukla will be made skipper for the entire season.

Obviously, the CAB officials kept away from making a formal announcement a day before the selection committee’s meeting. But reliable sources, both in the Bengal camp and in the power corridors of the CAB, told The Indian Express that Shukla has already been picked captain.

Even as it begins to appear that Jagmohan Dalmiya & Co have been looking to go with Shukla this season again, things had turned a bit murky over the past few days ever since the senior team’s pathetic show in the East Zone Twenty20 meet at Dhanbad.

Led by the mercurial Shukla, Bengal fared miserably in the tournament, losing an unprecedented three matches on the trot, before eking out a face-saving win in their inconsequential fourth match.

Even worse was the split within the Bengal team that came out in the open at the tournament, as the experienced duo of Deep Dasgupta and Ranadeb Bose were unceremoniously dumped from the playing XI ahead of a match. The incident sparked off a clash of egos within the team, and new coach Roger Binny was found struggling to come to grips with the players.

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