Ranji Trophy 2017-2018: 6 teams that can go all the way

Bengal

Mohammed Shami might turn out for Bengal in the opening match.

Bengal cricket has been surrounded with a number of controversies in their lead up to the opening match of the tournament against Services. With Pragyan Ojha not being granted a No Objection Certificate from the association to represent Hyderabad, the left-arm spinner has not reported to the team's training session, and has been left out of the squad for the first two rounds.

While the team will be led by the experienced Manoj Tiwary, the batting unit looks settled with Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sudip Chatterjee shouldering responsibility.

India's wicket-keeper for the Test matches, Wriddhiman Saha is all set to don the gloves for his state side till the start of the Test series against Sri Lanka later this year. After consistent performances for the Indian team in the grand home season, Saha will be the key for Bengal in their bid for the championship.

The team is also likely to receive a huge boost before their season opener as Mohammed Shami might feature for them after being left out of the Indian squad for the T20I series against Australia.

Squad: Manoj Tiwary (c), Sudip Chatterjee, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shreevats Goswami, Anustup Majumder, Abhishek Raman, Koushik Ghosh, Aamir Gani, Pradipta Pramanik, Ashok Dinda, Sayan Ghosh, Mukesh Kumar, Kanishk Seth, B Amit and Writtick Chatterjee