The Ranji Trophy has changed dramatically from the time I made my debut. Back then we travelled by train. Now you can reach any city in a matter of hours. During my time, the entire team would assemble at the Howrah Junction. Our landmark was the big clock and all of us would assemble at a certain time.
Talking about travel, in my first year, I actually paid more than what I got from my Ranji Trophy fees. I stayed in Mumbai and had to fly down to Calcutta (now Kolkata). It was expensive to travel by flight and you did not think of these things because it was an honour to play the Ranji Trophy and represent a team like Bengal.
When you represent a different state, there are bound to be issues like language and food, but fortunately for me, I never had that problem as all the players either spoke Hindi or English.
Before joining the senior side, I had only known Nikhil Haldipur from my U-19 days. I had heard of Devang Gandhi and Utpal Chatterjee but I had never met them. I must say the Bengal team was really welcoming and looked after me very well. They went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and saw to it that I was well settled. Very soon we developed a great bond and there was a sense of oneness.
The media tracked the performance of the Bengal team and we always got good coverage as in those days the internet was not widely used. Many young players maintained scrapbooks and would take a cut-out of their articles. I too maintained one as there was no internet back then. Going through scrapbooks refreshes your memory and can help you when things are not going your way. I remember even the junior cricket in Mumbai got excellent coverage. As a young cricketer in Mumbai when I did well, there would be articles the next day in the newspapers.
Having played for Bengal for 15 years, I feel we did fairly well. We made it to the finals for two consecutive seasons in 2005-06 against Uttar Pradesh and 2006-07 against Mumbai which is an excellent achievement.
I have had many happy moments, but my one big regret is not winning the Ranji Trophy with Bengal. It is always a cricketer’s dream to win the First-class tournament. Unfortunately, we came close twice but could not win it.
