Veteran batsman Anustup Majumdar was named Bengal captain for
the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, replacing Abhimanyu Easwaran, reported
PTI.

With Shreevats Goswami aiding Majumdar in the squad, the
team will further see Mohammed Shami’s younger brother, seaming all-rounder Mohammed
Kaif, feature in the tournament.

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) reportedly said in a
statement that Majumder was appointed because of relieving Easwaran of
the ‘captaincy burden’.

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The latter, significantly, led Bengal to the Ranji trophy final
in 2019-2020 season, but had a rather poor time with the bat, averaging a pale
17.20 in 10 matches with one half-century.

Majumdar, on the other hand, came out with a brilliant run,
averaging 58.66 as he raked up a massive 704 runs from eight matches, behind
only Manoj Tiwari (707 runs from 11 matches) in the squad.

“CAB president Avishek Dalmiya and Hony Secretary
Snehasish Ganguly today spoke to Anustup Majumdar, Shreevats Goswami and
Abhimanyu Easwaran and made them aware that the decision taken is only for the
length of the tournament in question,” PTI quoted the CAB as saying in a
statement on Thursday, with the note further making its point that the selectors
want Easwaran to play without the burden of captaincy over his head.

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Bengal have been put in the group B, along with Tamil Nadu,
Odisha, Assam, and Hyderabad, and the team begins its campaign on January 10 in
Kolkata.

Bengal Squad: Anustup Majumdar (captain), Shreevats Goswami
(vice-captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Manoj Tiwary, Sudi Chatterjee, Ishan Porel,
Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Vivek Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arnab Nandi, Mukesh Kumar,
Akash Deep, Abhishek Das, Mohammed Kaif, Aritra Chatterjee, Suvankar Bal,
Writtick Chatterjee, Prayas Ray Barman, Kaif Ahmed, Ravi Kant Singh.