Ranji Trophy: Injury jolt for Bengal before their campaign

KOLKATA:

Bengal

team suffered a rude jolt even before starting their Ranji Trophy campaign this season. Young pacer Mukesh Kumar has been ruled out for almost the whole of this Ranji season after suffering a thumb injury during practice at the Jadavpur University Salt Lake campus ground in Kolkata.

The 22-year-old injured his right-hand thumb badly while trying to take a catch off his own bowling. A scan later revealed that he has a fracture which is likely to rule him out for more than a month.

"It's really unfortunate," Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary said. "Mukesh has been an integral part of our team and he will be missed," he added.

Mukesh came to the limelight by picking up four for 53 against Haryana in the first innings last season at Rothak. He ended up claiming 11 wickets playing four matches in that season.

He also made useful contribution with the bat in the middle-order also.

The selectors called up another young pacer Sayan Ghosh as his replacement. Ghosh played his only Ranji Trophy match for Bengal against Vidarbha in Kolkata last season.

Bengal open their Group 'A' campaign against a strong Uttar Pradesh side in Jaipur on Thursday. The team will be on the road for their first three matches against Uttar Pradesh, Punjab (Bilaspur) and Railways (Dharamsala).

"This time all the matches will be at neutral venues. So there will be lots of travelling. But we are prepared for it," Tiwary said. "We will be back in Kolkata only after our first three matches and will then again make a move," he added.

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