'I can't play for Bengal again': Ashok Dinda
Jun 22, 2020
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 22 : India pacer Ashok Dinda on Sunday said his stint with Bengal team is over and the veteran bowler is exploring other options to play domestic cricket in the next season.
Dinda was dropped from the Bengal side after playing just one game in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy after a spat with Bengal bowling coach Ranadeb Bose.
"I have been associated with Bengal cricket for many years, and it has been my life, I have the best memories of my time with the team. I will not stop loving Bengal, but I can't play for them again. It's finished. I wanted to end my career with Bengal, but I don't have a choice now," ESPNcricinfo quoted Dinda as saying.
The 36-year old has been one of Bengal's most successful bowlers, with 420 wickets in first-class cricket and 151 and 146 in List A and T20s respectively.
He played 13 ODIs and nine T20Is between 2009 and 2013 for Men in Blue, played Bengal's first game of the last Ranji season, in Thumba against Kerala, and picked up three wickets. Soon after that, he got into a scrap with Bose on the sidelines of a training session in Kolkata, following which he was left out. He was given a chance to apologise to Bose but Dinda refused.
The speedster is being linked with Puducherry, Chhattisgarh and Goa for the 2020-21 domestic season. However, he hasn't yet applied to the Cricket Association of Bengal for a NOC; if and when he does, the association will let him go.
