Calcutta: Bengal start as firm favourites when they take on Goa in their opening match in Group D of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in Rajkot, on Thursday. 

Bengal’s morale is high after their impressive performance so far in the Ranji Trophy where they qualified for the knockouts after finishing second in Group A. 

The youngsters in the Bengal team have performed commendably during the Ranji Trophy and coach Sairaj Bahutule will be hoping they deliver in the limited-overs format too. The presence of Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who made a comeback in the Ranji Trophy tie versus Assam after being sidelined by a hamstring injury, is also an advantage for Bengal. 

“It’s good that Laxmi is there for the limited overs format,” senior pro Wriddhiman Saha said. “His all-round abilities give balance to the squad.”

Wriddhiman feels the way juniors performed in the four-day format, Bengal will definitely have very good chance in the limited-overs version. “Our juniors performed really well. 

“I know people are saying the change in format can be a problem. But when the team is in rhythm, you don’t worry about anything,” the India wicketkeeper-batsman said. 

Captain Manoj Tiwary said his team is mentally well prepared. “We are ready to perform. We have faith in our abilities,” he said. 

Bengal are yet to decide on their final XI. There could be a toss-up between Pankaj Shaw and Debabrata Das, but otherwise, it will be more or less the same. 

Sreevats Goswami and Sayan Sekhar Mondal are likely to open, with Sudip Chatterjee at No.3, followed by Manoj, Saha and Shukla. And then Ashok Dinda is set to share the new ball with Mukesh Kumar. Pragyan Ojha and Amir Gani are the likely spinners. 

Bangalore, where Group B matches of the tournament will be played, the talk is all about someone who responds to the name of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. 

India’s limited-overs captain, Dhoni, will thus play his first domestic game for Jharkhand after eight long years. Dhoni’s last appearance for Jharkhand, in any format, was in April 2007 (in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 match), soon after India’s disastrous World Cup campaign.

As already reported, Dhoni will not be captaining the side, and instead, it will be pacer Varun Aaron, part of the Indian squad in the recently concluded home series against South Africa, who will lead Jharkhand. 

Dhoni had said he isn’t very familiar with the current set of Jharkhand players and their strengths and so, he has no qualms about playing under Aaron. 

With the crucial World T20 coming up next March, to be hosted by India, it is only obvious that the Indian players do not want to miss quality competitive match practice. 

Dhoni's last competitive match was the fifth ODI against South Africa, in Mumbai. 

India will be touring Australia in early January for a limited-overs series. That will be followed by a T20 series against Sri Lanka, the Asia Cup (which is to be played in the T20 format) and the World T20. 

The Jharkhand squad is a good blend of youth and experience, and Dhoni will obviously be the X-factor. Besides Dhoni, who has led India to two World Cup triumphs, the likes of Saurabh Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi and Shahbaz Nadeem will be expected to be key performers.  

It will also be a stern test for the boys from Jammu and Kashmir as they get a chance to bowl to one of the finest cricketers. Apart from Parvez Rasool, who has played an ODI for India, the young guns from the northern-most state have not had a chance to fight it out with some of the bigger names of the game.

The likes of Shubham Khajuria, Hardeep Singh and Bandeep Singh will be expected to step up and put up an impressive show.

Apart from Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, the other teams in Group B are Karnataka, Railways, Kerala, Haryana and Gujarat.

Meanwhile, India's Test captain Virat Kohli has decided to take rest, while his teammates Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma will be playing for Delhi against Baroda in their opening group league match on Thursday.

Delhi's chief coach Vijay Dahiya confirmed that both Dhawan and Ishant are available for the Baroda game. "Virat is not playing in this game. We had already kept a standby (Vaibhav Rawal).