Emotions welled up inside Saurashish Lahiri when Akash Deep, the latest Bengal speed merchant to enter Indian dressing room, rang him up.
Former India players Pragyan Ojha and Ashok Dinda were on Saturday involved in an ugly feud ahead of Bengal's Ranji Trophy group league encounter against Tamil Nadu in Rajkot and both nearly came to exchanging blows during the training session. Both players are important in Bengal's scheme of things and the team management, which includes skipper Manoj Tiwary, coach Sairaj Bahutule and manager Sameer Dasgupta, spoke to them and conveyed that this behaviour was unexpected.
Brainchild of former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, the iconic bowling duo, who have signed a three-year contract, will spend at least 30 days with a pool of Bengal youngsters for a development programme aimed at creating supply line for the senior team.
Bengal bowling coach Ranadeb Bose strongly backed Mukesh Kumar
The Kolkata medium pacer, who picked 57 wickets last season, believes his haul of 26 wickets this season, though lesser, is still formidable.
Domestic stalwart Ashok Malhotra, who is also the president of Indian Cricketers' Association (ICA), said that four months of Ranji Trophy in a bio-bubble was never going to be a sustainable idea.
While the coaching module has been tweaked to make it more appealing for modern coaches, what came as a pleasant surprise was the introduction of a "corporate problem-solving class", where the incumbents were asked to find methods of trouble shooting while dealing with multiple off-the-field stakeholders.
The CAB president's post was lying vacant after former India captain Sourav Ganguly took over the reins of the BCCI.
A round-up of Day 4 of the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals on Friday.
Ranadeb Bose claimed a five-wicket haul as Bengal pocketed two points against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played across the country on Saturday
A summary of Wednesday's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at various venues across the country.
