Calcutta: The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) on Thursday confirmed former Bengal captain Utpal Chatterjee as Bengal coach for the 2008-09 season.

Chatterjee will be working in tandem with consultant Mohinder Amarnath, who is slated to arrive in the city on September 13.

Tapanjyoti Bannerjee and Ajay Verma were appointed as coaches for the Bengal under-22 side. The under-19 squad will be coached by Palash Nandy and Madan Ghosh while the under-16 team will be under the guidance of Goutam Shome (jr) and Udaybhanu Bannerjee. CAB officials said that a coach for the under-15 Bengal side will also be appointed.

Utpal said that he would have no problems working with the current Bengal squad. “Qualitatively the Bengal squad is superior to many of the other teams and we only need to get the best out of our players. I know them all very well, their strengths as well as weaknesses…I am looking forward to working with them,” Utpal said.

Meanwhile CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya said that he is looking after the process of foreigner recruitment for the Ranji Trophy. “We are still not certain about how to go ahead in this matter, but I will talk to Sourav (Ganguly) soon as he is the best person who can help us identify possible targets,” Dalmiya said.