West Bengal cricketers return to training at Eden Gardens after more than 6 months

Senior Bengal cricketers returned to training at the iconic Eden Gardens here on Monday after more than six months because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The players resumed training by maintaining strict Covid-19 guidelines.

While captain Abhimanyu Easwaran is out of station, 15 cricketers of the senior men's side attended training on Monday, that mainly involved workouts and gym sessions held under the guidance of trainer Sanjib Das.

Among women, 14 players did cardio on the ground under the supervision of Samiran Nath in small groups of four players at a time.

Senior Bengal batsman Sudip Chatterjee and all-rounder Arnab Nandi were excited to return to the ground.

"It really felt good and I am very happy to be back with the team. I thank the association and president (Avishek) Dalmiya for making this possible and help us return to training with proper restrictions," the duo said.

Coach Arun Lal, 65, did not join the session as the BCCI Standard Operating Procedure prevents those above 60 years of age from attending practice as of now.

The BCCI is yet to announce the domestic calendar for the 2020-21 season which is expected to be severely curtailed in view of the pandemic.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had already said that they are monitoring the situation.

"We want to have our domestic season. We have all the combinations, situations ready in our mind. We will try and make it happen as much as we can," Ganguly had said during a promotional programme here last month.