Delhi: Bengal Cricket Association has announced its 17-member team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT). Fast bowlers Mohammed Shami and Akash Deep, who were out of the national team for a long time, have been included in this team. Shami performed brilliantly in the first phase of Ranji Trophy this season, taking 20 wickets in just four matches.

After recovering from a leg injury, he played four out of five matches for Bengal and played an important role in leading the team to consecutive wins against Uttarakhand and Gujarat by taking 15 wickets in his first two matches.

Hopes of returning to the national team remain intact

Shami had not got a place in the limited overs series against Australia and the Test team against South Africa in recent months, which started indicating that the selectors had moved on from him. However, Shami is still hopeful of returning to the Indian team by performing better in domestic cricket. During Ranji Trophy, Shami had said that his priority is to remain fit and available for the Indian team. He had also said that it is not his job to give fitness updates to the selectors.

Abhimanyu Easwaran will captain

The captaincy of Bengal team has been handed over to Abhimanyu Easwaran. Wicketkeeper batsman Abhishek Porel has also returned to the team, who recently played for India A in the Rising Asia Cup. Shakir Habib Gandhi has got the place as the second wicketkeeper.

Tough competition in Group C, first match on 26 November

Bengal team is included in Group C in this prestigious tournament of T20 format. Its first match will be against Baroda in Hyderabad on 26th November. Teams from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Services, Puducherry and Haryana are also present in this group.

Bengal’s 17-member team

Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Sudeep Gharami, Abhishek Porel (wicketkeeper), Shakir Habib Gandhi (wicketkeeper), Yuvraj Keswani, Priyanshu Srivastava, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pradipta Pramanik, Hrithik Chatterjee, Karan Lal, Saksham Chaudhary, Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep, Sayan Ghosh, Kanishk Seth, Yudhjeet Guha, Shreyan Chakraborty.