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Former India player and Bengal head coach Arun Lal has high aspiration for his team as he believes that five-six players from his side will represent India in the coming three years.
Bengal have achieved great success under the aegis of Arun Lal as the team reached the Ranji Trophy final after a 13-year hiatus back in 2020. With an intent to lift the 2022 edition's Ranji Trophy title, Bengal team look more determined as they are no longer reliant on individual brilliance.
A significant member of Bengal’s last Ranji Trophy-winning team in the 1989-90 season, Lal is someone who always puts the team above personal achievements.
“I don’t want people to remember me. I only want people to remember Bengal for the brand of cricket we play," Lal told Sportskeeda.
Lal has infused a hitherto elusive killer instinct into the team since joining Bengal's technical staff, first as a mentor in the 2018-19 season and then as head coach.
On being asked about the current Bengal squad as to how many players can make the cut for India A and the Indian senior team in the next two-three years Lal said: "Lots of them. Bengal cricket has two main objectives at this stage – one is to win major trophies and the other is to prepare a strong supply line for India A and the senior national team. Mukesh Kumar certainly deserves a national call-up. He’s not recognized enough for his performances. Shahbaz Ahmed is close to earning a national call-up".
"Even Akash Deep has a great chance because he’s the fastest bowler in India at the moment and he moves the ball exceedingly well. In fact, when the ball gets old in the middle overs, he’s as good as any other bowler in the country. Abhimanyu is already there. Among the batters, I think Abhishek Porel is another great prospect. There are five or six of them," he added.
After a long time, six players from Bengal have got IPL contracts. Lal upon asked whether this an indication that Bengal’s limited-overs teams are on the right track, said: "We’re playing fabulous white-ball cricket. We played some special white-ball cricket last year. We couldn’t win any trophies due to some bad luck and inclement weather. I’m satisfied with our white-ball performance. You’ll see that the new players who’re now coming in will only make our white-ball teams better in the next five years. We’ll have more players playing in the IPL, that’s for sure".
The 66-year-old was also asked about the team's momentum which might be hampered given the big gap before the Ranji knockouts due to IPL, to which Lal said: "I would’ve preferred to play the knockouts now, given our momentum. But it’s the same case for every team that has qualified. We need to understand that this isn’t something new. We all knew this was going to happen, so we’re prepared for it. We need to take heart from the fact that we’re an undefeated team so far. We have the potential to go the distance, so we must keep our spirits high".
Meanwhile, after Wriddhiman Saha's exclusion from the Test squad for Sri Lanka series which India won 2-0, it was expected that the wicket-keeper batter might return to Ranji circuit.
In the same context when Lal was asked whether he has any plans to recall Saha, he said: "It’s not for me to decide. It’s the selection committee’s call".
