Calcutta: The going is getting tough for Laxmi Ratan Shukla. The message came loud and clear during Friday’s selection committee meeting for the JP Atray Memorial Invitational tournament and the Moin-ud Dowlah Gold Cup.

Unless Shukla performs creditably in the Chandigarh one-day meet, he would find it hard to hold on to his captaincy in the upcoming Ranji season despite enjoying the support of an influential selector. This has also given rise to major differences within the selection panel.

Although Bengal made the Elite group under Shukla’s leadership, his own form had been poor last season — 256 runs in seven matches at an average of 28.44. He has scored only one century in the last two seasons, against lowly-placed Services.

Ranadeb Bose, captain for the Moin-ud Dowlah meet, on the other hand, has been Bengal’s leading wicket-taker in the last few seasons.

“We will go with an open mind when we sit down to choose the captain for the Ranji Trophy. Our logic is simple — the captain has to perform… If Shukla doesn’t perform, he has to give up the captaincy,” a member of the selection committee said on Saturday.

“Shukla is no Mike Brearley or Sourav Ganguly. He has to prove his credentials on the field. Otherwise it won’t be easy handling the likes of Deep Dasgupta and Rohan Gavaskar,” he explained.

Shukla’s side for Chandigarh has been packed with juniors because the selectors want to be sure about his form before taking a decision. “Most of the senior batsmen will play in the Moin-ud Dowlah meet, and this will enable Shukla to bat up the order.”

It is learnt that the selectors also have a back-up in mind. “If Ranadeb doesn’t perform we can always go back to Deep Dasgupta with Wriddhiman Saha as his understudy. We’ve got to think about the future and plan accordingly,” another selector pointed out.

Isn’t Manoj Tiwary in the selectors’ scheme of things?

“Manoj is concentrating on making a return to the national side. Captaincy might just prove to be a burden at this point. Let him solely focus on his comeback now,” he said.

It is, however, unlikely that the selectors would have two captains — one for the four-day format and another for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. “We aren’t thinking about the National One-dayers. The one-day captain will be decided later, but having one captain always makes things easier.”