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What's the story?
West Bengal will look to defend their Santosh Trophy crown as the team releases its squad of players for the qualifiers of the upcoming tournament. The Bengal outfit released a 20-man squad which includes a variety of youth and experience with five U-21 players in the team as well.
The team will be coached by Ranjan Chowdhury, who is incidentally also the assistant coach at East Bengal and have been drawn in Group B of the Santosh Trophy qualifiers in the East Zone.
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This team around, the team will be led by Jiten Murmu, who played a major role in last year's triumph. The Santosh Trophy East Zone qualifiers are set to be held in Patna.
The heart of the matter
Joining West Bengal in Group B are Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand, both looking to pull off major wins against a tough Bengal team. Only the top team from the group will make it through to the main draw of the tournament, which is set to be held later this year.
The squad consists of an abundance of talent, looking to make a major mark on the big stage. Here is the squad in full:
Squad:
Ranajit Majumder, Laltu Mondal, Abhishek Aich, Manotosh Chakladar (U-21), Nabi Hossain Khan (U-21), Ankit Mukherjee, Saikat Saharoy, Krishna Biswas (U-21), Koushik Sarkar, Jagannath Oraon, Dipankar Das, K.G. Bidyashagar Singh (U-21), Tirthankar Sarkar, Babun Das, Laxmikanta Mandi, Sanchayan Samaddar, Sumit Das, Jiten Murmu (c), Rajon Barman, Sandip Bhattacharya (U-21).
Coach: Ranjan Chowdhury
What's next?
The Bengal team will kick off their qualifying campaign for the Santosh Trophy tournament on in Patna next week.
West Bengal fixtures
Monday, January 29: West Bengal vs Chattisgarh
Friday, February 2: Jharkhand vs West Bengal
Author's take
West Bengal will be looking to cement their place in the tournament following a breeze through the qualifying stages but Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand will hope to keep the pressure on the defending champions.
