Wriddhiman Saha rejoins Bengal, replacing Abhimanyu Easwaran in Rashmi Medinipur Wizards squad for Bengal Pro T20 league 2024 - Cricket Winner

Indian wicket-keeper batter Wriddhiman Saha makes his return to Bengal cricket by joining the Rashmi Medinipur Wizards for the Bengal Pro T20 League 2024. Saha replaces Abhimanyu Easwaran, the team captain and marquee player, who is currently at the National Cricket Academy and will miss the entire tournament due to an injury.

The 39-year-old Saha had left Bengal in the 2021-22 season following a dispute with the Cricket Association of Bengal and subsequently joined Tripura as a captain-cum-mentor.

Reports suggest that Saha’s return to Bengal cricket was influenced by a meeting with Sourav Ganguly a week ago, during which Ganguly requested the Siliguri native to play another season for Bengal before retiring. Following this meeting, Saha sought a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Tripura Cricket Association to facilitate his return.

Saha will join the Rashmi Medinipur Wizards as a key player for the Bengal Pro T20 League 2024. Sudip Chatterjee and Ishan Porel will serve as the team’s captain and vice-captain, respectively. With his return, Saha will also reunite with Laxmi Ratan Shukla, the head coach of the Medinipur Wizards.

BCCI Bans Boria Majumdar for Two Years Over Wriddhiman Saha Threat Case

Boria Majumdar has been banned for two years by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after being found guilty by a three-member committee. The committee included BCCI Vice-President Rajiv Shukla, Treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal, and Apex Council Member Prabhtej Singh Bhatia, and investigated the threats made to Wriddhiman Saha.

“We will inform all state units of the Indian cricket board to keep him out of stadiums. He will not get media access for home matches, and we will also ask the ICC to blacklist him. Players will be told not to talk to him,” a top BCCI official said, according to the Indian Express.

In February, Saha, a BCCI-contracted player, shared a screenshot on Twitter of a WhatsApp message from a “respected” journalist after he was dropped from the Indian Test team for the home series against Sri Lanka. The journalist had requested an interview, which Saha ignored.

“You did not call. I will never interview you again. I don’t take insults kindly. And I will remember this. This wasn’t something you should have done,” read the messages from the journalist that Saha posted. “After all of my contributions to Indian cricket, this is what I face from a so-called ‘respected’ journalist! This is where journalism has gone,” Saha wrote on Twitter.

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Following the incident, many former cricketers like Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, and Ravi Shastri, as well as the Indian Cricket Association, supported Saha and urged him to name the journalist. This led the BCCI to form a three-member committee to look into the matter.

Majumdar later said he would sue Saha for defamation, claiming that Saha had altered the chats to damage his reputation. However, the BCCI committee found Majumdar guilty, stating his actions were indeed threats and intimidation.