Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Bengal’s Ashok Dinda axed for abusing bowling coach

Ashok Dinda, the veteran fast bowler, was earlier axed from Bengal’s 16-man squad for the match versus Andhra in the 2019-20 edition of the Ranji Trophy. It was learned that the speedster hurled abuses at bowling coach Ranadeb Bose, who’s also a former Bengal pacer. The incident took place on Wednesday in the preparations before the match at the Eden Gardens.

Dinda reportedly hit out at Bose when the latter was whispering to skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran during the team meeting after practice. Thereafter, the officials from the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and the selectors had a discussion in the evening and decided to sideline Dinda.

Ashok Dinda not apologising for his behaviour

As per a CAB source, the 35-year-old was given a chance to tender an apology for the behaviour. However, the pacer hasn’t and hence, this could well be the end of Dinda’s campaign in the red-ball domestic tournament. Dinda would surely have been a part of the playing eleven for the match.

Bengal had plans for fielding four quality pacers on a deck that is known for its bounce. “We will have to play in a way that we don’t feel the need of an extra batsman. We have to be aggressive,” Arun Lal, Bengal’s head coach, was quoted as saying in Cricbuzz after the training session.

“Arnab and Shahbaz made a huge difference in the match against Kerala. But at Eden Gardens we might look to play four pacers,” Lal added. For the match, Bengal have field four pacers- Ishan Porel, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep and Baddupalli Amit.

Coming to Dinda, he hasn’t had the best of times of late. The Medinipur-born wasn’t a part of the Bengal squad for the 2019-20 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he picked up 10 wickets from six matches at an economy rate of 5.52.

Later, Lal, their coach, said that Bengal’s focus was to find the next ‘Ashok Dinda’. Lal also stated that his performances weren’t up to the mark in the one-day tournament and he was not quite effective in the matches versus Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Lal emphasized on giving youngsters a fair chance.