Anustup Majumder Exclusive: A Hooghly Boy's Journey Through Bengal's Cricket Tapestry - Ranji Dream, Resilience and Route for Sustained Success

Anustup Majumder is a popular name in Bengal cricket and is much adored among Bengal cricket aficionados. He is one of the few players who has seen the ebbs and flows of Bengal cricket over the last two decades.

Majumder started his career in 2004 for Bengal and is still going strong at the age of 39. On a humid afternoon in Kolkata, MyKhel had a chance to talk with Anustup at the Kalighat club.

He had just overseen the Kalighat team net session and then batted for more than 30 minutes. After hitting some sublime drives in the net, Anustup Majumder opened up on various aspects of the game and beyond.

'Winning Ranji is my biggest Motivation'

"I have been playing cricket since childhood. I started my first-class career in 2004, and I have a huge passion for the game. Many players of my batch have left cricket, only Wriddhi (Wriddhiman Saha) is still playing. But more than that, I don't know whether I will be able to do something as passionately as cricket. I still get excited on every matchday, I feel the adrenaline rush and that feeling is incomparable.

"Also, the Ranji dream is something which is still prevalent. We haven't had a Ranji Trophy for a long time, I may not play for long, but the Ranji win is my biggest motivation to play cricket," Majumder says to MyKhel.

Born in Chandannagar, a place in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, Anustup started his career in his own district. His journey started with South Suburban Club as a spin bowler in 1999, and slowly made it to the CAB 1st division the next year. After honing the jerseys of Kalighat Club, Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Customs in previous years, Anustup's current stint in the CAB league is with Kalighat Club.

How can Bengal win the Ranji?

Anustup Majumder believes they will have to improve their batting for a stronger Ranji bid. The Bengal team had may batting capitulations in the recent Ranji season and Majumder says they will have to show more consistency.

"There are certainly some shortcomings. We have a great bowling unit, but sometimes we have been faltering with the bat. If the batters show more consistency, we will have a chance of winning the Ranji Trophy," he added.

Anustup has been one of the key pillars of Bengal cricket for a long time. Ruku Da, as he is fondly known, is a popular name among the Bengal cricket lovers and the way the veteran has honed his skills in the middle order is truly commendable.

Even in the recent season, the 39-year-old scored a fantastic century against Mumbai when all the other batters (except Abhishek Porel in 2nd innings) failed to make any mark. He scored 3 centuries in the Ranji Trophy this season, coupled with two more in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The Unfulfilled India Dream

He has over 5,000 first-class runs with 16 centuries. Majumder also played in the IPL in 2012, when he represented Pune Warriors India. He represented India A as well and despite decent performance, the national call-up remained a dream. But Anustup says he doesn't think about that anymore.

"If you see history, it shows that players from East Zone haven't played for India a lot. I used to think about playing for India but later accepted the fact. You can only control what is in your hand, so regretting is not the solution," Majumder added.

The current crop of Bengal

Speaking about the current generation of Bengal players, Majumder heaped praises on Sudip Gharami and said that the player has the ability to reach greater heights in future. But he also concedes the fact that any upcoming talent needs to show consistency and must perform against the very best to get recognition.

"You have to be remarkable against the very best. You can't score centuries against weak teams and hope everybody will recognize you. A century against Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu - that too regularly can make you noticeable. It is not an easy process.

"If you see Yashasvi Jaiswal, you can see his class and struggle oozing with his batting. The more you struggle, the better you will become as a player and a person," Majumder says.

"I have seen the transformation of Mukesh (Kumar), Akash (Akash Deep) and Shahbaz (Ahmed). When Shahbaz first came to the Bengal team, he was struggling. We had a talk and he recognized that he has to change his way of playing to be successful at the national level. Akash and Mukesh have been superb as well. The lateral movement of Mukesh Kumar is tremendous. And I think Akash Deep is the fittest player in the Bengal team. The endurance and class that he has is admirable," the player continued.

Bengal Pro T20

The Bengal players never had the exposure. Other states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh have their own T20 leagues and we have seen players getting picked in the IPL from those tournaments. But the new franchise T20 league of CAB, the Bengal Pro T20 is set to commence its journey this year and it is a massive step for the players.

Anustup welcomed the new venture but also admitted that it should have arrived a lot earlier.

"It should have come a lot earlier. Wish it could have come seven or eight years ago. Probably we would have seen more Bengal and Bengali players in the IPL then. The exposure is very less in Bengal and hopefully, the visibility will increase with the Bengal Pro T20 league," he said.

Ready to Give his 100 per cent for Bengal

Cricket is a team game, and the player says he only aims to give his all for the team. The baby-faced maestro of Bengal cricket says he is ready to take any responsibility for the betterment of the team.

Regarding the poor run in the Ranji Trophy, Anustup believes a review is needed to find out their shortcomings. But the player thinks that the Kolkata grounds must have more Red Soil pitches for better adaptation for the players.

"The condition of the wicket in Mumbai and other places is different. The pitch is made of Red Soil which we are not used to in Kolkata. But anyone can build that if they want, but I haven't seen that so far here," he added.

A career in Politics?

Apart from cricket, the Bengal player loves to watch football and believes it is the biggest sport in the world. Family time is also very important to him while listening to music and reading books are something which he does in his leisure time.

Majumder is an avid reader of Bengali books and is a Feluda fan, a detective character created by the late great Satyajit Ray. Even his nickname 'Ruku' is inspired by the character of a Feluda movie named 'Joy Baba Felunath'.

Anustup Majumder's two former Bengal teammates have spread their wings in politics after leaving cricket. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, the current Bengal coach was an MLA on Trinamool Congress in the past, while the just retired Manoj Tiwary is the current MLA in the Shibpur constituency.

When asked if a career in Politics is on the way in the near future for Anustup, the player gleefully denies it. He says he doesn't feel the urge to join politics.

The Hardik Pandya Saga

MyKhel also asked about the ongoing issues of Hardik Pandya against the fans, and the player hailed Hardik Pandya for handling the matter so maturely.

"I think the way Hardik Pandya is handling the issue is excellent. This is the way everyone must deal with these adversities, just ignore them. You will have to filter out things and you can't just take everything in your heart. If you do so, you can't survive. I think Pandya has matured a lot. He has gone through a lot and is a lot calmer now. I think parenthood also plays a part in it. Hardik Pandya of the past would have reacted to it, but he has changed himself," Anustup further elaborates.

A Message for the Next Generation and Harsh Truth

"I have been seeing this generation lacks patience. They want fast success and long for it. I have seen people achieve fast success, but the life is long. Nowadays, social media has a huge effect on the players and it is very important to come out of this bubble and work hard. So increase the volume of hard work to get slow success, which will last a longer time.

"The inclination towards T20 cricket has taken a toll on this current generation. Nowadays, the players believe that a 50-run of just 20 balls will lead to their success. And IPL has a part in it as well. We have seen players getting picked from IPL for the Indian team which has in turn devalued the importance of domestic cricket," he says.

The Bengal player further talked about a player and his nonchalant attitude towards the Ranji Trophy after getting a multiple crore deal in the IPL in recent times.

Anustup will turn 40 on April 30. Although he is set to enter the fifth decade of his life, the Bengal player is still quite fit and is ready to take guard for Bengal next season.