The Bengal cricket team is regarded as the best team in the Eastern Zone as far as domestic cricket in India is concerned. The team plays most of its games at the Eden Gardens, one of the leading venues in India as well as the world.
History of participation in Ranji Trophy
Bengal tasted its first occasion of success in the Ranji Trophy during the 1936-37 season when it achieved the 2rd spot behind Nawanagar, the eventual winners of the that year’s tournament. It won its first title in 1938-39 when it defeated Southern Punjab and became the 4th team to claim the title. Its next success came after 51 years – in the 1989-90 season when it defeated a strong Delhi side in the finals.
Till date Bengal has achieved the runner-up spot 10 more times, which may be enumerated as below:
- 1943-44
- 1952-53
- 1955-56
- 1958-59
- 1968-69
- 1971-72
- 1988-89
- 1993-94
- 2005-06
- 2006-07
It has also won the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the domestic one day tournament, once – in 2011-12 – and been the runner-up in 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10. It also played the Irani Trophy match in 1990-91 but was unable to win the trophy.
Famous players
Saurav Ganguly is one of the most successful batsmen to have ever come out of India and remains the most famous cricketer from these parts. Apart from Bengal, Ganguly has played first class cricket for Lancashire, Glamorgan, and Northamptonshire.
He made his first class debut in 1990 and hung up his boots only recently. Till date he has played 254 first class matches with 15,687 runs with an average of 44.18 and 33 centuries with a top score of 239. He has also played 437 List A matches with 15,622 runs and an average of 41.32. In this format he has scored 31 centuries with a highest score of 183.
In addition, he has taken 167 wickets in first class matches with 4 five wicket hauls and a best bowling of 6/46. He has also claimed 171 wickets in List A matches with 2 five-for’s and a best bowling of 5/16.
Ambar Roy, a left-handed batsman, was also one of the leading cricketers for Bengal during the 1960s. He played 132 first class matches and scored 7163 runs with an average of 43.15. He also scored 18 centuries in these matches with a highest score of 197.
Following are some other players who have played for Bengal:
- Arun Lal
- Probir Sen
- Deep Dasgupta
- Rakesh Shukla
- Devang Gandhi
- Rohan Gavaskar
- Dilip Doshi
- Saba Karim
- Gopal Bose
- Saradindu Mukherjee
- Montu Banerjee
- Shute Banerjee
- Pankaj Roy
- Subrata Guha
- Pranab Roy
- Subroto Banerjee
- Prashant Vaidya
- Utpal Chatterjee
