Bengal had a disappointing limited-overs campaign this season, but now they will be returning to the format where they have had mostly good times.

Group C toppers with 23 points from five games, Bengal will resume their Ranji Trophy campaign, against Services at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground in Kalyani from Thursday.

It will be a test for Bengal if they can gain some momentum, as a win against the second-placed team would virtually mean a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament.

“Last time when we played at Kalyani, we couldn’t win against Assam. This time, we’ll try to make sure we win as we can then have one foot in the quarter-finals,” head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla said on Wednesday.

A fair amount of focus will be on milestone man Anustup Majumdar, for whom this will be his 100th first-class appearance. For sure, the senior pro will be itching to come up with something special in his landmark game, and so will Mukesh Kumar.

This will be Mukesh’s first Ranji appearance this season. The red-ball game has been the pacer’s forte so far, and a meaningful contribution over the next four days should make the national selectors sit up and take notice.

Mukesh aside, Mohammed Shami and Akash Deep will form Bengal’s pace attack along with seamer all-rounder Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal. Left-arm spinner all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed will look after the spin department.