Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Mohammed Shami's brother Mohammed Kaif picked in Bengal's 22-man squad

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has announced a 22-man squad for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. India’s domestic T20 tournament is set to be played from January 10 to January 31. Abhimanyu Easwaran has been appointed the skipper of the Bengal team for the competition while Manoj Tiwary, the seasoned player, will also mark his comeback to the sport after long layoff due to COVID-19 pandemic.

India pacer Mohammed Shami‘s brother Mohammed Kaif has also been named in the squad. He is one of the better all-rounders at the moment in Bengal and was only picked in U23 state team last year. Like Shami, even Kaif is a pace bowler and is a very good batsman as well. He must have impressed the selectors with his performance at the Junior level to finally make it to the senior team.

Ishan Porel and Shreevats Goswami also named in the Bengal squad

As far as the squad is concerned, Shreevats Goswami will also return to action for the first time after the 13th edition of the Indian Premier league (IPL). He played a few matches for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) during the tournament. Pacer Ishan Porel also looks set to make a comeback after an injury layoff.

He had travelled to Australia with Team India as a net bowler. But a hamstring injury cut short his stint with the side and was sent back home earlier this month. A 25-man probable squad was earlier announced which underwent a preparatory camp under watchful eyes of head coach Arun Lal and former India cricketer VVS Laxman.

Bengal is part of the Elite B Group with other teams like Odisha, Jharkhand, Hyderabad, Assam and Tamil Nadu. The team will play its first match on January 10 against Odisha at Jadhavpur University Campus in Kolkata while all their other games are set to be played at the iconic Eden Gardens.

Bengal 22-man squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Manoj Tiwary, Sudip Chatterjee, Anustup Majumdar, Shreevats Goswami, Ishan Porel, Kazi Junaid Saifi, Ritwik Chowdhury, Vivek Singh, Shahbaz Ahamad, Arnab Nandi, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Ravi Kant Singh, Abhishek Das, Mohammed Kaif, Aritra Chatterjee, Suvankar Bal, Writtick Chatterjee, Prayas Ray Barman, Sujit Yadav, Kaif Ahmed