Ranji Trophy 2021-22: West Bengal sports minister Manoj Tiwary named in the state squad

Manoj Tiwary, one of the consistent performers in the Indian domestic circuit for a long time was elected as the minister of state in sports and youth affairs in Bengal last year. After making an entry into politics, Tiwary joined the Trinamool Congress party and reaped immediate success standing in the Shibpur constituency. The 36-year-old veteran batter is a vital cog in the Bengal setup and has now returned back to Cricket action after a year.

Manoj Tiwary last played for the Bengal side in March 2020 in the Ranji Trophy finals which they went on to lose to Saurashtra. The right-hand batter has represented India in 12 ODIs and three T20Is and is considered to be one of the unluckiest cricketers to not have got many chances. His first-class record is mind-blowing with nearing 9000 runs at an average of 50.4 alongside 27 centuries to his name.  This will mark the 17th year for Manoj Tiwary in first-class cricket after making his debut in 2004 as a 19-year-old.

West Bengal Placed in Elite Group B

The Elite Group B consists of the runners-up of 2019-20 season Bengal along with Vidarbha, Haryana, Kerala, Tripura, and Rajasthan. Bengal is set to play their first game on the 13th of January against the Tripura side and they will be hoping that Covid-19 does not hamper their team anymore. Already, six players from the Bengal squad including Sudip Chatterjee, Anustup Majumdar, Kazi Junaid Saifi, Geet Puri, and Pradipta Pramanik have tested positive for Covid-19 alongside one assistant coach.

The 21 member squad for the Ranji Trophy 2021-2022 season was recently announced and it contained a lot of experienced campaigners. Abhimanyu Easwaran who has been traveling with the Indian squad will be the leader of the squad while the big names like Anustup Majumdar and Sudip Chatterjee have found places. IPL stars like Shabaz Ahmed, Ishan Porel have also been named to the squad.

West Bengal Squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (capt), Manoj Tiwary, Sudip Chatterjee, Anustup Majumdar, Abhishek Raman, Sudip Gharami, Abishek Das, Writtick Chatterjee, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Abhishek Porel, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sayan Sekhar Mondal, Akash Deep, Ishan Porel, Mukesh Kumar, Kazi Junaid Saifi, Sakir Habib Gandhi, Pradipta Pramanik, Geet Puri, Nilakantha Das, and Karan Lal.