T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Anustup Majumdar Appointed Bengal Captain

Anustup Majumdar has replaced Abhimanyu Easwaran as Bengal captain for the upcoming T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy so that the latter could singularly focus on his batting, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) said in a statement on Thursday while announcing a 20-member squad.

The CAB, however, said that the decision to appoint Majumdar captain has been taken only for the domestic T20 tournament that starts on January 10 at various centres. Shreevats Goswami has been appointed vice-captain.

The CAB said that its president Avishek Dalmiya and secretary Snehasish Ganguly met Easwaran, Goswami and Majumdar and made them aware that the decision has been taken "only for the length of the tournament in question".

"The selectors felt that without the burden of captaincy over his head Abhimanyu would be able to play more freely and deliver up to his potential," said the CAB.

Easwaran, who took over captaincy from Manoj Tiwary in 2019, led Bengal to their first Ranji Trophy final since 2006/07, but his batting form had an alarming drop. Easwaran averaged just 17.20 in 10 matches, in stark contrast to the 861 runs he scored in six matches at an average of 95.66 in the season before that.

Bengal are placed in Group B and will play their matches in Kolkata.

Squad: Anustup Majumdar (captain), Shreevats Goswami (vice-captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Manoj Tiwary, Sudi Chatterjee, Ishan Porel, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Vivek Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arnab Nandi, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Abhishek Das, Mohammed Kaif, Aritra Chatterjee, Suvankar Bal, Writtick Chatterjee, Prayas Ray Barman, Kaif Ahmed, Ravi Kant Singh