CAB holds meetings with coach, captain, and selector after Bengal’s sloppy show

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021: Alarmed by Bengal’s ousters from the group stages of the T20 and one-day domestic competitions, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) on Monday called for a review meeting with the coach, captain, and selectors to do an in-depth post mortem.

The Anustup Majumdar-led Bengal on Monday suffered their third defeat from five matches, losing to Haryana by five wickets to finish fifth in Group E of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament.

In the season opener Syed Mushtaq Ali T20, Bengal also had made a group stage exit, forcing the CAB top brass to call for a thorough review.

“We had expected a much better performance from the team. In fact, the CAB office bearers will soon call a review meeting with the coach, captain, and selectors to do an in-depth post mortem.

“It is absolutely important to find out the reasons for this kind of performance and address the issues. The performance of the support staff will also be reviewed,” CAB president Avishek Dalmiya said.

Dalmiya further said that they have chalked out a detailed plan to roll out ‘Vision 2025’ as a continuation of ‘Vision 2020’ with the sole focus on developing young talents

“We are already working on the blueprint for Vision 2025. This time the focus will also be on age group cricket and harnessing and developing young talents to create a robust supply line and a strong bench strength,” he said.

CAB secretary Snehashis Ganguly said: “No excuses will be entertained without valid reasons. Besides we will be doing a detailed post mortem and we will get to the bottom of this performance.”

“The CAB has left no stones unturned to see that the players get enough pre-season practice. We have been doing fitness camps indoors from September 2020 immediately after the lockdown was lifted,” he said.

“Then maintaining all Covid protocols, camps were held in Kalyani for build-up towards the season. Vision camp with VVS Laxman was done at JU Second Campus.

Practice matches were organized, team bonding sessions were held, and the Bengal T20 Challenge was organized keeping in mind the need for some valuable match practice for the players. So we need to analyze what is going wrong.”

Bengal coach Arun Lal, who was dissatisfied with the performance of the team, held a closed-door meeting with Dalmiya.

“A set of dos and don’ts will be given to the players on behavioral expectations and maintaining fitness standards ahead of next season.“