Bengal cricket team

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Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox cricket team The Bengal cricket team is an Indian domestic cricket team representing the state of West Bengal. The team is based in Kolkata. It is administered by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and participates in tournaments organized by the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI). The team competes in the First-class cricket competition known as the Ranji Trophy, the List A cricket Vijay Hazare Trophy, and the T20 competition Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT).

They have been playing first-class cricket since 1935. Bengal have won the Ranji Trophy twice and been runners-up 13 times. They also play in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy, both of which they have won once.

Several international cricketers have played for the team including Dilip Doshi, Sourav Ganguly, Deep Dasgupta, Mohammed Shami, Pankaj Roy, and Wriddhiman Saha.

History

File:Ground of Calcutta Cricket Club, 15th Jan'y 1861 - Percy Carpenter.png
Ground of the Calcutta Cricket Club, 15 Jan'y. 1861 H.M. 68th L.I. from Rangoon, versus the Calcutta Cricket Club, a lithograph after a watercolour by Percy Carpenter, depicting a Calcutta Cricket Club match played at Eden Gardens.

The Calcutta Cricket Club was founded in 1792 with membership restricted to Europeans.[1][2] The team's earliest known match was reported 23 February 1792 in the Madras Courier, Calcutta playing a team from Barrackpore and Dumdum.[3] Eden Gardens was established as the club's home stadium in 1864. It had been a park called Auckland Circus Gardens, named after George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, who was the Governor-General of India from 1836 to 1842. It was renamed Eden Gardens in 1841, in honour of Auckland's two sisters.[3][4][5]

For the first time, a team representing Bengal was formed in December 1889 for a match against an English touring team at Eden Gardens.[3] At that time, no native Bengalis were involved and the team, captained by British Army officer Cleveland Greenway, was composed of European colonials who were mostly British expatriates. Bengal lost the match, played over the New Year period, by an innings and 17 runs.[6] In January 1923, a Bengal team took part in the Nagpur Provincial Tournament and, having defeated a Central Provinces XI in their semi-final, lost the final against Bombay. The Bengal team in this competition included a couple of native players but, as before, it was principally a colonial enterprise.[7] The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) was founded in 1928 and has governance of all cricket in West Bengal, including management of the Bengal team.[8]

File:Manoj Tiwary fielding.jpg
Manoj Tiwary is Bengal's current first-class captain.

In 1934, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organised the Ranji Trophy but Bengal did not take part in 1934–35. Bengal achieved first-class status in December 1935 when they played the Australian tourists. Bengal were captained by Alec Hosie and the team included Shute Banerjee. Although the Australian team on that tour was a mixed bag of veterans and fringe players, they easily defeated Bengal by 9 wickets.[9][10]

In January 1936, Bengal joined the Ranji Trophy, playing in the East Zone, and reached the semi-final where they lost to Madras. In 1936–37, Bengal were runners-up to Nawanagar. Two years later, in 1938–39, Bengal won the Ranji for the first time when they defeated Southern Punjab in the final.[11] Throughout this period, Bengal was essentially a West Bengal team. They were based in Calcutta and played all their matches at Eden Gardens. The earliest match of note in Dhaka was in February 1941 when a Bengal Governor's XI played the Bengal Gymkhana at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, then called the Dacca Stadium.[12] Following Partition of India in 1947, Bengal was split into West (India) and East (then Pakistan, now Bangladesh).

Bengal won their second Ranji Trophy in 1989–90 when they defeated Delhi in the final.[13] To 2023, In addition to their two titles, Bengal have been runners-up 13 times, most recently in 2022–23, and only Bombay/Mumbai have appeared in more finals.[14]

Having won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2011, Bengal won the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2012. Playing under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, they defeated Mumbai in the final at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi on 12 March 2012.[15]

Author Mihir Bose, writing in 1990, commented that cricket's first secure foothold in India was Calcutta Cricket Club, founded 1792 and only five years younger than Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Despite continuing enthusiasm for the sport in Bengal, it is overshadowed by Mumbai as "the centre for Indian cricket".[16] Bose describes Eden Gardens as "one of the great Test match centres of the world", but he laments the relative lack of Bengali Test players saying that only "a handful" has played Test cricket.[16]

To the end of 2023, Bengal have played in a total of 450 first-class matches, 446 of them in the Ranji Trophy. The exceptions are the team's inaugural first-class match against the 1935/36 Australians; Marylebone Cricket Club in December 1951; the Commonwealth XI in December 1953; and the 1990/91 Irani Cup against Rest of India.[17]

Home grounds

File:Eden Garden Stadium Kolkata MB01.jpg
Eden Gardens today

Honours

Players

Current squad

Updated as on 18 February 2026.

Players with international caps are listed in bold.

Name Birth date Batting Bowling Notes
Batters
Sudip Kumar Gharami 1999-3-21 (age 27) RHB OB [18][19]
Abhimanyu Easwaran 1995-9-6 (age 31) RHB LB Captain
Non-international, but has been a standby for India Test squads.[20][21]
Anustup Majumdar 1984-4-30 (age 42) RHB LB [22][23]
Sumanta Gupta 1991-2-9 (age 35) RHB LB [24]
Sudip Chatterjee 1991-11-11 (age 35) LHB LB [25]
All-rounders
Shahbaz Ahmed 1994-12-12 (age 32) LHB SLA Plays for Lucknow Super Giants in Indian Premier League (IPL).[26][27]
Karan Lal 2000-10-19 (age 26) RHB OB Under-19 international.[28][29]
Rahul Prasad 2004-10-13 (age 22) RHB OB [30]
Vishal Bhati 2005-11-14 (age 21) LHB SLA [31]
Wicket-keepers
Abishek Porel 2002-10-17 (age 24) LHB Vice-Captain
Plays for Delhi Capitals in IPL.[32][33]
Shakir Habib Gandhi 1999-10-8 (age 27) RHB [34][35]
Spin bowlers
Writtick Chatterjee 1992-9-28 (age 34) RHB OB [36]
Pradipta Pramanik 1998-10-8 (age 28) RHB SLA [37][38]
Aamir Gani 1996-8-27 (age 30) RHB OB [39]
Seam bowlers
Mohammed Shami 1990-9-3 (age 36) RHB RM Plays for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL[40]
Akash Deep 1996-12-15 (age 30) RHB RFM Plays for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL.[41]
Mukesh Kumar 1993-10-12 (age 33) RHB RFM Plays for Delhi Capitals in IPL.[42][43]
Suraj Jaiswal 1999-12-2 (age 27) RHB RM [44]
Ishan Porel 1998-9-5 (age 28) RHB RFM [45][46]
Rohit Kumar 2001-11-19 (age 25) RHB RM [47]
Mohammad Kaif 1996-12-10 (age 30) RHB RFM [48][49]
Sayan Ghosh 1992-9-16 (age 34) RHB RM [50]
Saksham Choudhary 1999-9-15 (age 27) LHB RM [51]

Notable former players

Template:Further

File:Sourav Ganguly crop.jpg
Sourav Ganguly captained India for five years.

The following Bengal cricketers hold team records or have made international appearances in Test, ODI or T20I matches.

Statistics

Template:Main

Notes

References

  1. ↑ The British hangover of Kolkata's elite clubs. Get Bengal News(18 February 2021). Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  2. ↑ Seventeen Ninety Two: A History of the Calcutta Cricket & Football Club{{#if:Gupta|, Gupta}. Calcutta Cricket & Football Club(1 January 2002)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Chronology of Sports Events. West Bengal Department of Youth Services and Sports, 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  4. ↑ In the shadow of Eden(January 2000). Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  5. ↑ Eden Gardens. Kolkata City Tours. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Guha, 2001, pp. 33–37.
  7. ↑ Nagpur Provincial Tournament itinerary, 1923. CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  8. ↑ Early History of Bengal Cricket leading to the formation of the Cricket Association of Bengal in 1928. Bengal Cricket Association. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  9. ↑ Bengal v Australians, December 1935. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  10. ↑ Bengal v Australians, December 1935. CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  11. ↑ Chronology of Important Sports Events — West Bengal. wbsportsandyouth.gov.in. Government of West Bengal – Department of youth services and sports(2017). Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  12. ↑ Bengal Governor's XI v Bengal Gymkhana, 1941. CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  13. ↑ The Ranji Trophy. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  14. ↑ Ranji Trophy Winners (from 1934/35). Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  15. ↑ Final: Bengal v Mumbai at Delhi, March 12, 2012. Cricket Scorecard. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Bose, 1990, p. 18.
  17. ↑ First-class matches played by Bengal. CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  18. ↑ Sudip Kumar Gharami, ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  19. ↑ Sudip Kumar Gharani, CricketArchive. Retrieved 9 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  20. ↑ Abhimanyu Easwaran, ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  21. ↑ Abhimanyu Easwaran, CricketArchive. Retrieved 9 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  22. ↑ Anustup Majumdar, ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  23. ↑ Anustup Majumdar, CricketArchive. Retrieved 9 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  24. ↑ [1], ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  25. ↑ [2], ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  26. ↑ Shahbaz Ahmed. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  27. ↑ Shahbaz Ahmed. CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  28. ↑ Karan Lal, ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  29. ↑ Karan Lal, CricketArchive. Retrieved 9 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  30. ↑ [3], ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  31. ↑ Vishal Bhati. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  32. ↑ Abishek Porel, ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  33. ↑ Abhishek Porel, CricketArchive. Retrieved 9 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  34. ↑ Habib Gandhi, ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  35. ↑ Habib Gandhi, CricketArchive. Retrieved 9 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  36. ↑ [4], ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  37. ↑ Pradipta Pramanik. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  38. ↑ Pradipta Pramanik. CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  39. ↑ Aamir Gani. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 March 2026
  40. ↑ Mohammed Shami. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  41. ↑ Akash Deep. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  42. ↑ Mukesh Kumar. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  43. ↑ Mukesh Kumar. CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  44. ↑ [5]. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  45. ↑ Ishan Porel. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  46. ↑ Ishan Porel. CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  47. ↑ Rohit Kumar. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 March 2026
  48. ↑ Mohammed Kaif. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  49. ↑ Mohammed Kaif. CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Template:Subscription
  50. ↑ Sayan Ghosh. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
  51. ↑ [6]. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 December 2024.

Sources

Template:Refbegin

  • A History of Indian Cricket{{#if:Bose|, Bose}. Andre Deutsch(1990). ISBN 0-233-98563-8
  • A Corner of a Foreign Field{{#if:Guha|, Guha}. Picador(2002). ISBN 0-330-49117-2

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