Days after bail in sexual assault case, Abishek Porel named in Bengal's Ranji squad

Bengal have named Abhishek Porel in their Ranji Trophy squad for the Delhi opener in Kalyani, days after he was granted bail in a rape case. Abishek Porel has been arrested on grounds of rape allegations. (Photo: PTI)Kolkata,Oct 7, 2026 22:17 ISTControversial wicketkeeper-batter Abhishek Porel was on Wednesday included in Bengal's Ranji Trophy squad for their season opener against Delhi at Kalyani.Porel was recently granted bail in a rape case and has been included in the squad led by Abhimanyu Easwaran to face Delhi, in their Elite Group C match to be played at Kalyani's Bengal Cricket Academy Ground.The season-opener for Bengal was moved to Kalyani from Kolkata's iconic Eden Gardens, which will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi to kick off the Durga Puja festivities starting with Mahalaya on October 10.The squad features senior India pacer Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, and Akash Deep, who is on a comeback trail and will be keen to prove his fitness and form ahead of the New Zealand tour. Bengal and Delhi are in Group C along with Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Services.Squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Sudip Kumar Gharami (vc), Sudip Chatterjee, Abhishek Porel (wk), Ankur Paul, Sumanta Gupta, Ankit Shukla, Subham Chatterjee, Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Pradipta Pramanik, Aamir Gani, Md. Kaif, Soummyadip Mandal. Stand-bys: Karan Lal, Akhilesh Yadav, Geet Puri, Abhishek KR. Raman, Subham Sarkar, Sumit Mohanta, Aditya Purohit.- Ends