Rohan and Deep

Calcutta: Senior pros Rohan Gavaskar and Deep Dasgupta were the first casualties of Bengal’s poor show in the Ranji Trophy. The CAB senior selection committee on Sunday decided to ‘rest’ the two former Bengal captains as they take on Delhi in an inconsequential Super League match at the JU (Salt Lake Campus) ground from Tuesday.

It is, however, learnt that the duo have been dropped from the squad of 15 as the selectors want to try out younger players. Sreevats Goswami has earned a recall while Ashok Dinda is back after doing duty for the national T20 side.

To avoid the media, the venue of the meeting was shifted to Jagmohan Dalmiya’s office at Theatre Road from the B.C. Roy Club House at Eden Gardens. If one goes by the mood of the senior CAB officials, Rohan and Deep have already played their last first-class match for Bengal.

Deep and Rohan, though, are still not ready to throw in the towel. Both said that they were not retiring from first-class cricket and finding it hard to digest the ouster.

“I am too shocked to react. The chairman (Sambaran Banerjee) called me up to tell me about the decision. This is the first time in the last 13 years that I am fit and available and yet been rested. There is no question of calling it quits.

“I will be doing my regular training and playing club matches in Mumbai as well as Calcutta for Kalighat. Also I will be coming for the next Kolkata Knight Riders camp in January. Certainly, retirement is not in my mind,” Rohan told The Telegraph from his Mumbai residence.

Deep, on his part, refrained from making a comment. “I would like to wish the team best of luck. I don’t think it is the right time to say anything.”

On Sunday, coach Roger Binny’s report also helped the selection committee, as well as the CAB brass, take a final call regarding the duo.

According to a source, there were three points that Binny raised in his report. First, if Bengal persisted with big names (read Rohan and Deep), the balance of the side was getting affected. Second, the shuffling of players at two batting slots (No.3 and No. 7) affected the balance and batting.

The third point raised by the coach was lack of quality spinners. Although Sourashish Lahiri got 17 wickets, the popular perception is that he doesn’t have the ability to run through a side. Iresh Saxena has been more of a liability and is still being persisted with as there is no replacement.

Binny’s own position, too, is also not very safe. The CAB brass is likely to honour his contract and let him complete the tenure (end of Vijay Hazare Trophy), but there is very little chance that his contract will be renewed for the next season. His inability to take tough decisions haven’t gone down well with the powers that be.

THE SQUAD

Rohan Banerjee, Arindam Das, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Manoj Tiwary, Sourav Ganguly, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha, Ranadeb Bose, Sourashish Lahiri, Sourav Sarkar, Ashok Dinda, Nilkantha Das, Dibyendu Chakraborty, Sreevats Goswami, Iresh Saxena.