As pundits will now look back at the Bengal team’s abject surrender this season and wonder what went wrong, it has been learnt that a key reason behind the debacle is the team management’s overconfidence at the start of the season.

As a team member pointed out to The Indian Express after Bengal were knocked out of the Ranji Trophy’s Elite Division, the think-tank was too overambitious, taking it for granted earlier in the season that the team would surely make it to the semi-finals this time round as well.

“It’s not wrong to be ambitious. But given that this team was missing some top players who played well last season, our think-tank made a mistake by taking it for granted that we will make it to the semis this time again. As a result, some decision-making went horribly wrong, and the Orissa match became the turning point,” the team source said.

One may single out coach Bharathi Arun for the misjudgment, but the real blame falls on the entire think-tank that comprises skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla, and seniors like Ranadeb Bose and Shib Sankar Paul.

After cruising into a relatively sound position after the first three rounds in the Ranji Trophy this season, the Bengal think-tank chose to go for the kill in their fourth round match against Orissa at Siliguri.

Making the most of the advantage of getting to decide on the nature of the pitch for the Siliguri match, the Bengal team management opted for a pronounced greentop, hoping that they would overwhelm the Orissa batsmen with a four-pronged pace attack.

Instead, the move back-fired. Orissa speed guns Debasish and Vasanth Mohanty flattened Bengal, as coach Arun’s boys were dealt a 6-wicket shock defeat. The shock loss onwards, Bengal just couldn’t recover at all, first succumbing to a star-studded Uttar Pradesh, and then choking against a gritty Andhra Pradesh outfit.