Ranji Trophy QF: Saha-less Bengal hold pole position against Jharkhand

Wriddhiman Saha, may have left the team in the lurch owing to his personal grudge against the establishment, but the Abhimanyu Easwaran-led Bengal will still start as favourites against Jharkhand with their pace troika ready to let it rip in their Ranji Trophy quarter-final, starting from Monday. The trio of Mukesh Kumar (15 wickets), Ishan Porel (14 wickets) and Akash Deep (10 wickets) has been the most prolific pace attack in the country and with a cumulative count of 39 wickets among the 58 that Bengal got this season, they will come all guns blazing at the Jharkhand line-up, which has shown firepower during the league stages.

However, the likes of Kumar Deobrat, Kumar Kushagra, Virat Singh will like to forget their overwhelming near 900-run innings score against Nagaland, which was their pre-quarter-final at the Eden Gardens. It will be a very different fight against one of the best domestic bowling attacks in the country along with the gutsy spin-bowling all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed (8 wickets) for company.

When a senior player puts self above teamOut of the Indian Test team as the new management doesn't want a 37-year-old second keeper, an upset Wriddhiman had cited "personal reasons" for not playing in the league stages, where the team found a new star in 19-year-old Abhishek Porel. However, after doing a star turn for Gujarat Titans in the IPL, the India discard demanded a public apology from state body office-bearer Debabrata Das for allegedly insulting him.

Subsequently, he decided to not play one of the most important matches of the season for the state team, which made him the cricketer that he is today. In this backdrop, the Bengal side, without arguably its No.