Dinda remains sidelined, out of Bengal squad against Gujarat

Ashok Dinda was dropped from the Bengal Ranji Trophy squad on the eve of its match against Andhra after he “abused” bowling coach Ranadeb Bose.

Ashok Dinda refused to apologise after the incident with bowling coach Ranadeb Bose.

Bengal pacer Ashok Dinda was once again kept out of the squad for its upcoming Ranji Trophy Elite Group A fixture against Gujarat here from January 3 as the selectors named a 16-member squad on Monday.

The Bengal pace spearhead Dinda, who has represented India in 13 ODIs and 9 T20 Internationals, was dropped from the Bengal Ranji Trophy squad on the eve of its match against Andhra after he “abused” bowling coach Ranadeb Bose after a pre-match practice session and refused to apologise.

“Based on team management’s views, the selectors did not consider Dinda for inclusion in the team at this stage,” CAB joint secretary Avishek Dalmiya said.

Bengal bowling attack missed Dinda as it had to settle for three points on basis of its first innings lead.

The state selectors also roped in uncapped left-handed batsman Kazi Junaid Safi in place of struggling Sudip Chatterjee. Bengal has slipped to seventh place with nine points from two matches in the Elite Cross Pool.

Bengal Squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Abhishek Raman, Manoj Tiwary, Anustup Majumder, Shreevats Goswami, Arnab Nandi, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Ishan Porel, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sudip Gharami, Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, Koushik Ghosh, B Amit, Ayan Bhattacharya, Kazi Junaid Saifi.