SMAT 2021-22: Wriddhiman picked in Bengal squad, Goswami ignored

Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) have picked their squad for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 group league games in Guwahati starting October 27 and India's Test specialist Wriddhiman Saha bolstered the squad with his presence. However, what has come as a surprise is that selectors overlooked seasoned Shreevats Goswami despite the latter being one of the highest all-time run-getters in the history of the tournament (1823 runs in 65 games). 

While that was a big surprise, more baffling was left-handed red-ball specialist Sudip Chatterjee being named captain of the side. Over the years, Goswami has been one of Bengal's best performers in the shortest format, while Chatterjee has played just 20 T20 games for Bengal and has only hit three sixes in his entire career, and is considered as a defensive batter.

Goswami's exclusion is more surprising considering he was one among the few players from Bengal whom an IPL franchise had found worthy enough for a contract. For the record, it must be mentioned that the former U-19 World Cup-winning India keeper is completely fit and was available for selection.

In his place rookie keeper, Shakir Habib Gandhi has been selected for some quickfire knocks in the Bengal T20 Challenge.

Bengal Squad: Sudip Chatterjee (captain), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Abhishek Das, Kaif Ahmed, Ritwik Roy Chowdury, Ranjot Singh Khaira, Shakit Habib Gandhi (wk), Suvankar Bal, Karan Lal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Writtick Chatterjee, Pradipta Pramanick, Sujit Kumar Yadav, Ishan Porel, Mukesh Sharma, Akash Deep, Alok Pratap Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Sayan Ghosh.

Chief Coach: Arun Lal, Coach: Sourasish Lahiri.