 | |
| Personnel | |
|---|---|
| Captain | Anustup Majumdar (FC) Sudip Kumar Gharami (List A & T20) |
| Coach | Laxmi Ratan Shukla |
| Owner | Cricket Association of Bengal |
| Team information | |
| Colours | Dark Blue Yellow |
| Founded | 1889 |
| Home ground | Eden Gardens |
| Capacity | 66,349[1] |
| History | |
| First-class debut | Australia in 1935 at Eden Gardens, Calcutta |
| Ranji Trophy wins | 2 |
| Vijay Hazare Trophy wins | 1 |
| Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy wins | 1 |
| Official website | CAB |
The Bengal cricket team is anIndian domestic cricket team representing the state ofWest Bengal. The team is based inKolkata. It is administered by theCricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and participates in tournaments organized by theBoard of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI). The team competes in theFirst-class cricket competition known as theRanji Trophy, theList A cricketVijay Hazare Trophy, and theT20 competitionSyed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT).
They have been playingfirst-class cricket since 1935. Bengal have won theRanji Trophy twice and been runners-up 13 times. They also play in theSyed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and theVijay Hazare Trophy, both of which they have won once.
Several international cricketers have played for the team includingDilip Doshi,Sourav Ganguly,Deep Dasgupta,Mohammed Shami,Pankaj Roy, andWriddhiman Saha.
TheCalcutta Cricket Club was founded in 1792 with membership restricted to Europeans.[2][3] The team's earliest known match was reported 23 February 1792 in theMadras Courier, Calcutta playing a team fromBarrackpore andDumdum.[4]Eden Gardens was established as the club's home stadium in 1864. It had been a park called Auckland Circus Gardens, named afterGeorge Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, who was theGovernor-General of India from 1836 to 1842. It was renamed Eden Gardens in 1841, in honour of Auckland's two sisters.[4][5][6]
For the first time, a team representing Bengal was formed in December 1889 for a match againstan English touring team at Eden Gardens.[4] At that time, no native Bengalis were involved and the team, captained by British Army officerCleveland Greenway, was composed of European colonials who were mostly British expatriates. Bengal lost the match, played over the New Year period, by an innings and 17 runs.[7] In January 1923, a Bengal team took part in theNagpur Provincial Tournament and, having defeated a Central Provinces XI in their semi-final, lost the final againstBombay. The Bengal team in this competition included a couple of native players but, as before, it was principally a colonial enterprise.[8] TheCricket Association of Bengal (CAB) was founded in 1928 and has governance of all cricket inWest Bengal, including management of the Bengal team.[9]
In 1934, theBoard of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organised theRanji Trophy but Bengal did not take part in 1934–35. Bengal achievedfirst-class status in December 1935 when they played theAustralian tourists. Bengal were captained byAlec Hosie and the team includedShute Banerjee. Although the Australian team on that tour was a mixed bag of veterans and fringe players, they easily defeated Bengal by 9 wickets.[10][11]
In January 1936, Bengal joined the Ranji Trophy, playing in the East Zone, and reached the semi-final where they lost toMadras. In 1936–37, Bengal were runners-up toNawanagar. Two years later, in 1938–39, Bengal won the Ranji for the first time when they defeatedSouthern Punjab in the final.[12] Throughout this period, Bengal was essentially aWest Bengal team. They were based inCalcutta and played all their matches at Eden Gardens. The earliest match of note inDhaka was in February 1941 when a Bengal Governor's XI played the Bengal Gymkhana at theBangabandhu National Stadium, then called the Dacca Stadium.[13] FollowingPartition of India in 1947, Bengal was split into West (India) and East (then Pakistan, now Bangladesh).
Bengal won their second Ranji Trophy in 1989–90 when they defeatedDelhi in the final.[14] To 2023, In addition to their two titles, Bengal have been runners-up 13 times, most recently in2022–23, and onlyBombay/Mumbai have appeared in more finals.[15]
Having won theSyed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2011, Bengal won theVijay Hazare Trophy in 2012. Playing under the captaincy ofSourav Ganguly, they defeatedMumbai in the final at theFeroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi on 12 March 2012.[16]
AuthorMihir Bose, writing in 1990, commented that cricket's first secure foothold in India wasCalcutta Cricket Club, founded 1792 and only five years younger thanMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Despite continuing enthusiasm for the sport in Bengal, it is overshadowed byMumbai as "the centre for Indian cricket".[17] Bose describes Eden Gardens as "one of the great Test match centres of the world", but he laments the relative lack of Bengali Test players saying that only "a handful" has played Test cricket.[17]
To the end of 2023, Bengal have played in a total of 450 first-class matches, 446 of them in the Ranji Trophy. The exceptions are the team's inaugural first-class match against the 1935/36 Australians;Marylebone Cricket Club in December 1951; theCommonwealth XI in December 1953; and the 1990/91Irani Cup againstRest of India.[18]
Updated as on 16 November 2025.
Players with international caps are listed inbold.
| Name | Birth date | Batting | Bowling | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batters | ||||
| Sudip Kumar Gharami | (1999-03-21)21 March 1999 (age 26) | RHB | OB | List A and Twenty20 captain.[19][20] |
| Anustup Majumdar | (1984-04-30)30 April 1984 (age 41) | RHB | LB | [21][22] |
| Sudip Chatterjee | (1991-11-11)11 November 1991 (age 34) | LHB | LB | [23] |
| Sumanta Gupta | (1991-02-09)9 February 1991 (age 34) | RHB | LB | [24] |
| Abhimanyu Easwaran | (1995-09-06)6 September 1995 (age 30) | RHB | LB | First-Class Captain. Non-international, but has been a standby for India Test squads.[25][26] |
| Shakir Habib Gandhi | (1999-10-08)8 October 1999 (age 26) | RHB | [27][28] | |
| All-rounders | ||||
| Karan Lal | (2000-10-19)19 October 2000 (age 25) | RHB | OB | Under-19 international.[29][30] |
| Shahbaz Ahmed | (1994-12-12)12 December 1994 (age 30) | LHB | SLA | Plays forLucknow Super Giants inIndian Premier League (IPL).[31][32] |
| Writtick Chatterjee | (1992-09-28)28 September 1992 (age 33) | RHB | OB | [33] |
| Kanishk Seth | (1997-11-04)4 November 1997 (age 28) | RHB | LM | [34] |
| Vishal Bhati | (2005-11-14)14 November 2005 (age 20) | LHB | SLA | [35] |
| Wicket-keepers | ||||
| Abishek Porel | (2002-10-17)17 October 2002 (age 23) | LHB | Plays forDelhi Capitals in IPL.[36][37] | |
| Agniv Pan | (1997-01-01)1 January 1997 (age 28) | LHB | [38] | |
| Spin bowlers | ||||
| Pradipta Pramanik | (1998-10-08)8 October 1998 (age 27) | RHB | SLA | [39][40] |
| Kaushik Maity | (1999-10-14)14 October 1999 (age 26) | LHB | SLA | [41] |
| Rahul Prasad | (2004-10-13)13 October 2004 (age 21) | RHB | OB | [42] |
| Seam bowlers | ||||
| Suraj Jaiswal | (1999-12-02)2 December 1999 (age 25) | RHB | RM | [43] |
| Sayan Ghosh | (1992-09-16)16 September 1992 (age 33) | RHB | RM | [44] |
| Mukesh Kumar | (1993-10-12)12 October 1993 (age 32) | RHB | RFM | Plays forDelhi Capitals in IPL.[45][46] Played for India in all three formats |
| Mohammad Kaif | (1996-12-10)10 December 1996 (age 28) | RHB | RFM | [47][48] |
| Mohammed Shami | (1990-09-03)3 September 1990 (age 35) | RHB | RM | Plays forLucknow Super Giants inIPL[49] |
| Ishan Porel | (1998-09-05)5 September 1998 (age 27) | RHB | RFM | [50][51] |
| Saksham Choudhary | (1999-09-15)15 September 1999 (age 26) | LHB | RM | [52] |
| Sumit Mohanta | (1992-09-12)12 September 1992 (age 33) | RHB | RM | [53] |
| Akash Deep | (1996-12-15)15 December 1996 (age 28) | RHB | RFM | [54] |
The following Bengal cricketers hold team records or have made international appearances in Test, ODI or T20I matches.
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