The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has announced its full squad for the senior Bengal men’s cricket team for the practice matches ahead of the upcoming Ranji Trophy season. Controversial keeper-batter Abishek Porel has been included in the squad.
The Delhi Capitals (DC) batter was in jail for more than a month before getting bail. He was in jail under police observation as he was accused of rape and having sexual relations on the promise of marriage. As per previously published media reports, the star Bengal cricketer was arrested in connection with multiple non-bailable cases.
Police arrested Abishek Porel on August 11
Police arrested Abishek Porel after the allegations were filed by a medical student. The medical student alleged several charges against the cricketer; most of the charges were reportedly non-bailable.
On August 11, Porel was arrested after he was produced before the Calcutta High Court. The cricketer was also produced before the Chinsurah court, where the judge directed the police to examine the electronic devices used by Porel.
The medical student alleged that Porel had a sexual relationship with her on the ground of false marriage proposals. She also claimed that the cricketer threatened her by threatening to make intimate photographs of her public. The cricketer was booked under Section 19 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as well as Sections of the Information Technology Act.
Abishek Porel’s professional cricket career was under uncertainty
When the news first broke out in the media and public domain, Porel first refused all of the allegations filed against him, but the circumstances were not in his favour. Later, it was known that the court directed the police to keep him behind bars.
Because of the legal issues, the professional cricket career of Abishek Porel went into uncertainty. He is not only known as a Bengal state cricket team player, but also had multiple significant stints with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Capitals (DC).
Abishek Porel is set to make a return for Bengal
When it was assumed that Porel’s professional cricket career was under a lot of uncertainty, the Cricket Association of Bengal has surprised many Indian cricket fans by including him in the squad for the practice matches for the Ranji Trophy 2026-27 season. Practice matches of the Bengal men’s cricket team will be held at the ACA Stadium, Guwahati.
CAB has named their star and in-form batter Sudip Chatterjee as their captain. The squad also has prolific batters like Abhimanyu Easwaran and Subham Chatterjee. Emerging batter Karan Lal, who scored a lot of runs in Bengal’s local cricket, has also been named in the team.
Bengal will start their Ranji Trophy 2026-27 journey on Sunday, October 11, with the match against the heavyweight Delhi cricket team. The match will be held at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Bengal men’s team for the practice matches
Sudip Chatterjee (Captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ankur Paul, Ankit Shukla, Sumanta Gupta, Subham Chatterjee, Abishek Porel (W.K.), Shakir Habib Gandhi (W.K.), Pradipta Pramanik, Karan Lal, Aamir Gani, Soumyadip Mandal, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Md. Kaif, Geet Puri, Ishan Porel.
