Abhimanyu Easwaran named captain as Bengal announces Squad for SMAT 2022

Abhimanyu Easwaran | PC: Twitter

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), on Saturday (October 1) announced a 19-member squad for the upcoming edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. 

Abhimanyu Easwaran has been named the captain of the Bengal team for the domestic T20 tournament, while Writhick Chatterjee is set to play his deputy. 

Agniv Pal and Abhishek Porel will don the wicket-keeping gloves for Bengal in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022. Besides, Ravi Kumar, the member of ICC U-19 World Cup winner has also been added to the squad.

Shahbaz Ahmed, who recently bagged his maiden T20I call-up to the Indian squad has also made it to the team alongside some Bengal regulars like Mukesh Kumar, Akashdeep, and Ishan Porel.  

Easwaran, who is currently playing in the Irani Cup for the Rest of India, recently played first-class matches against New Zealand A and scored a magnificent 132 in the opening game. 

However, he couldn't continue his good run of form, scoring just 22, 3,8, and 4 in the next three innings. The right-arm quick Mukesh Kumar also grabbed eyeballs with his stellar bowling performances against New Zealand A. 

Shahbaz Ahmed, meanwhile, had an impressive outing in the Duleep Trophy and the New Zealand A’s tour of India where the southpaw churned out some impactful performances with both bat and ball. 

The experienced batters Manoj Tiwary and Anustup Majumdar, however, failed to make a cut to the Bengal's squad with Sudip Kumar Gharami, Abhishek Das, and Abhishek Porel holding the impetus for the team's batting. 

The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2022 is all set to kick-start on October 11 with Bengal, placed in Group E starting its tournament campaign against Jharkhand.  

Bengal Squad for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2022: 

Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Writtick Chatterjee, Abhishek Das, Ritwik Roy Choudhary, Sudip Gharami, Ranjot Singh Khaira, Agniva Pan (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Porel (wicketkeeper), Shahbaz Ahmed, Pradipta Pramanik, Karan Lal, Sujit Kumar Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Ishan Porel, Sayan Shekhar Mondal, Ravi Kumar, Akash Gathak, Geet Puri.

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