The last time Bengal won the Vijay Hazare Trophy was in 2012 and the hero of victory was Lakshmi Ratan Shukla. The team led by Sourav Ganguly showed a strong game under the leadership of coach WV Raman. Bengal could not win any major tournament in these one decades. Under the leadership of coach Arun Lal, it used to come close to the title for the last two times, but the victory was not achieved.
Now after the resignation of Arun Lal, the appointment of Lakshmi Ratan Shukla as the coach and the appointment of WV Raman as the batting consultant, is pointing towards a new change. Lakshmi Ratan Shukla, who joined politics after retiring from cricket, was the Sports Minister in the previous government of Mamta Banerjee. But he had resigned from his post just before the election. He has played three ODIs for India. He was also a part of Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL as well.
(with input from agency)