Wriddhiman Saha and Mohammad Shami to play the Ranji Trophy semi-final

Bengal take on Delhi in the Ranji Trophy semi-finals this weekend at a neutral venue in Pune. Both the sides had a strong run into the semis. Delhi is yet to lose a game while Bengal have only lost one in the process. However, the Bengalis will go into the game as the favourites, the reason being the inclusion of two international regulars.

Delhi has their own stars but they need to be wary of Bengal. Wriddhiman Saha and Mohammed Shami have been named in the fifteen man squad of Bengal. The Manoj Tiwary led team has added to their firepower and the Delhi boys have their work cut out. The clash between these two sides is going to be a great contest.

The Shami and Saha effect

The duo who have been on national duty are coming in fresh from their Test series win against the Sri Lankans. Shami was pivotal in the series win as Saha also had a decent outing with the gloves. That said, Shami has always been a threat irrespective of the pitch and conditions. His partnership with Ashok Dinda is one of the reasons Bengal has been successful over the years.

Dinda and Shami have grabbed more than half the wickets Bengal picked in the group stages; 48 out of 94 to be precise. The 27-year-old showed his worth while playing for the national team with some great bowling spells and Saha has been outstanding behind the stumps.

That said, the other semi-final will be between Vidarbha and Karnataka which will take place at Eden Gardens. Vidarbha, however, will have to play the semis without their star man Umesh Yadav and so do Karnataka as KL Rahul has also opted out.

Bengal squad for the semis

Manoj Tiwary (C), Sudip Chatterjee (vc), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Sreevats Goswami (wk), Anustup Majumder, Abhishek Raman, Aamir Gani, Pradipta Pramanik, Ashok Dinda, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Kanishk Seth, B Amit, Wrritick Chatterjee.