Abishek Porel is back in a Bengal squad. The 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batter has been named for a four-day practice match against Assam in Guwahati from October 2 to 5, 10 days after he walked out on bail.
The rape case against him is still open. Porel was arrested in August on a complaint filed by a medical student. He spent 36 days in custody before a Chinsurah court granted him bail.
The selection reverses Bengal’s own stand from August. When the Cricket Association of Bengal named its 33-man senior probables for 2026-27, Porel was left out of both the red-ball and white-ball lists. At the time, the CAB said he would not be considered until the case was settled.
“Until he is proved completely innocent and all the legal proceedings are over.”
Cricket Association of Bengal, as reported by Sportsdunia, August 22, 2026
Neither condition has been met. The CAB has not publicly explained what changed. Officials maintain he is eligible to play while the case continues.
BREAKING: Abishek Porel, out on bail, picked in Bengal squad for Ranji Trophy 2026-27 practice matches https://t.co/Nt9jYZDqA6 pic.twitter.com/FLDLxohSru
— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) September 28, 2026
The headline reads like a comeback. In cricket terms it is a four-day audition, and the skill most likely to let him down is not his batting.
| Match | Bengal vs Assam, four-day practice game |
| Dates | October 2 to 5 |
| Venue | ACA Stadium, Guwahati |
| Captain | Sudip Chatterjee |
| Coach | Surendra Bhave, standing in for Laxmi Ratan Shukla (Irani Cup duty) |
| Wicketkeepers | Abishek Porel, Shakir Habib Gandhi |
| Pace attack | Ishan Porel, Md Kaif, Suraj Jaiswal |
Two keepers are named for one pair of gloves. Bengal’s earlier warm-ups against Hyderabad at Kalyani were washed out, so this game carries more weight than a practice match usually does.
Insider Read
A place in a practice squad is not a place in the Ranji side. Selectors use these four days to answer one question: is the player match-ready? Runs matter less than how a player looks when the ball is doing something.
For a keeper coming back from 36 days out, that answer comes from behind the stumps first. Batting timing returns after a few nets, but footwork to the seamers, soft hands and the focus to stay low for 90 overs come back last. With Shakir Habib Gandhi in the same squad, one dropped chance in Guwahati will tell the selectors more than a fifty.
Where the Porel Case Stands
Porel faces charges under Sections 69, 311 and 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 66 and 72 of the IT Act. The complainant, a medical student from Karnataka, alleged he had a relationship with her on a false promise of marriage and threatened to release intimate photographs.
Bail came after the complainant filed an affidavit saying she had no objection to his release, and after police filed a chargesheet containing digital evidence. The charges remain active.
Porel has denied every allegation. He maintains the relationship was consensual and that the charges are baseless.
The Ranji Trophy season starts on October 11. The next four days in Guwahati are his case for keeping wicket in it.
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