Col CK Nayudu Trophy: Bengal call up experienced trio for crunch match

KOLKATA: Desperate time calls for desperate measures. The Bengal selectors called up three players from the senior team for the next

Col CK Nayudu Trophy

(U-23) match against Andhra in Kalyani, near Kolkata, which will begin on Thursday. Bengal are staring at relegation after being placed fourth in their five-team

Elite Group

'C'. They have only one point after two matches and hence will look to win maximum points against Andhra at home.

The situation forced

Cricket Association of Bengal

(CAB) president Sourav Ganguly to play the super selector's role as he felt it's time to boost the side with some experienced players. Luckily the Bengal senior team is having rest in Round III of the Ranji Trophy which allowed opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, spinner Aamir Gani and pacer

Kaniskh Seth

to join the squad for the all-important match. The captaincy was handed over to Easwaran in place of Agniv Pan, although the selectors said it had nothing to do with Pan's form. "Agniv is an important player for us and we want him to concentrate fully on his batting in this match and thus relieved him of the captaincy burden," a team source said.

Seth is expected to form a deadly new ball pair with Amit Kuila, who made a promising senior Bengal debut last season while Gani will lead the spin attack.

Bengal made a bad start conceding first-innings lead to Railways. But it was against Baroda in the last match that they faltered badly and suffered an outright defeat in spite of taking first-innings lead. It's now time for the boys to stand up and deliver.