Ganguly spends time with Bengal youngsters at nets, to travel with team to Nagpur

cab te bengal team er sathe sourav gangully photo by AVEEK DAS (2)
CAB President Sourav Ganguly with the Bengal players recently. Image Source: Xtra Time

Kolkata: Following a disappointing 21 runs loss against Baroda in their last Ranji Trophy Group A tie at Lalhi, Cricket Association of Bengal President Sourav Ganguly decided to put on his coaching hat on Thursday.

Ganguly made a surprise visit to the Bengal nets at Jadavpur Campus in Salt Lake, to try and assess the batting flaws in the youngsters. Agniv Pan, Sayan Sekhar Mondal, Pankaj Shaw and Writtick Chatterjee were specifically told by the team management to come for the nets. The former India captain was seen taking the mantle of coach as he was seen giving them tips to overcome their shortcomings in their batting.

Someone like Writtick Chatterjee, who has a tendency to always go on his back foot, was told by Ganguly to play more on his front foot. The former India captain suggested him to play more in the V. According to a support staff who was present at the Bengal nets, Saurav was heard giving Writtick the example of India test captain Virat Kohli, the way he bats.

Ganguly, a huge follower of Virat’s batting cited the example of Kohli, how he takes on the quicker bowlers and suggested the youngsters to follow his technique.

Opening batsman Sayan Sekhar Mondal, who scored his maiden century in Ranji against Punjab, has failed to deliver since. The talented batsman had a string of failures since then scoring a total of 121 runs in 7 innings.

The problem with the left hander is he bends his hips too much. Ganguly suggested him to bat with an upright stance. He also suggested him not to go half hearted at shots while batting.

Another talented batsman Pankaj Shaw showed enough promise in the match against Punjab. He scored a brilliant half century in the match against Punjab that paved the way for a Bengal win. But he too had a problem with his technique against the quick bowlers.

The CAB president was seen spending quality time with each batsman at the nets. He stood by the side of the nets and carefully followed what was wrong in their technique and tried to rectify them.

Later after the practice session Ganguly told the media that he will be travelling to Nagpur to cheer Manoj and his team.

Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary appreciated the gesture from Ganguly, sparing time from his busy schedule to help the talented young batsmen of his team. According to Manoj, “It was wonderful to see Dadi (Sourav) coming and sparing time with the guys. He personally guided them and pointed out what was going wrong in their batting. Hopefully they can benefit from his tips and make it count in the next matches.”

Surprisingly , Bengal coach Sairaj Bahutule was not at the practice session. Only bowling coach Ranadeb Bose was present. The selectors made one change from the squad that was picked for the two matches. Abhishek Raman was included in the side in place of Prasenjit Das.

Bengal will travel to Nagpur next to play reigning champions Mumbai on November 29.