Two decades, countless comebacks: Anustup Majumdar's never-ending Ranji story

Bengal's senior pro Anustup Majumdar, now 41, made his debut in domestic cricket more than 21 years ago in December 2004. He has played the most matches for Bengal among the current crop of players - starting with the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Ranadeb Bose in his early days to Abhimanyu Easwaran and Shahbaz Ahmed now.

Ahead of the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 quarter-final against Andhra starting on Friday, Majumdar reflected on his two-decade long career.

"There have been plenty of lows in my career so far," Majumdar told ESPNcricinfo. "I've been dropped many times. But there are very few highs in a player's career; it's mostly filled with lows. However, how you overcome those low points is a life lesson."

Success and failure, ups and downs, comebacks and rejections - Majumdar has seen it all. On Ranji Trophy debut, he fell for 4 both times in an innings defeat against Mumbai. Another three years passed before Majumdar played in the Ranji Trophy again.

But with time, Majumdar, now a veteran of 101 first-class matches, has learnt to be patient. He had ground his way into the senior Bengal team after playing plenty of club cricket in the state, and representing Bengal Under-19 for one year and Bengal Under-22 for three successive years. Even Majumdar's Ranji debut came after he spent a year waiting in the wings as part of the senior squad.

Along with the realisation that it takes time to break through has come the ability to overcome the fear of failure.

"At the time of my debut for Bengal, I didn't know how tough a first-class match could be. I didn't know of the kind of tactics that were used," Majumdar said.

After returning to Bengal's Ranji side in 2007-08, Majumdar was dropped again in 2009-10. But he came back in 2010-11, then switched to Railways in 2014-15, didn't get a game for his new side next season, and returned to Bengal in 2017-18. It is "by God's grace", Majumdar says, that despite that rollercoaster, he's still going strong for Bengal.

The ongoing season, though, has been a relatively quiet one for Majumdar, who has 358 runs at an average of 39.78. He has gone past fifty in only two of his ten innings so far. But like in the past, there have been rescue acts: like holding firm from 13 for 3 after Bengal conceded a first-innings lead against Tripura, and taking Bengal from 61 for 4 to 474 by scoring 135 against his former team Railways in a Player-of-the-Match performance in an innings win.

But how has Majumdar motivated himself over such a long career, even as his journey was filled with upsets of being repeatedly left out?

"No matter how passionately you do something, there will be failures - and there'll be a lot of it in sports. But you have to practice stuff, both physical and mental," Majumdar said. "When you're playing a match, you try not to repeat the mistakes you made in the past. That [learning phase] is an experience.

"Slowly, the fear of failure starts to leave you. When you fail, you don't feel so low; likewise, even if you are successful, you don't feel too high. So this mental balance came gradually. But it wasn't like this at first. Gradually, I realised what to do. So if you do something passionately, you will think about how you can improve. I did that as well."

Over his long domestic career, Majumdar has experienced changes in the game, which, he says, have happened "for the good". He thinks the "obvious" difference as time has passed has been the increasing strike rate of the batters. Today's young generation, Majumdar says, are well prepared to launch sixes, whereas the previous one was content to "consume more balls while at the crease".

With time, the IPL has taken increasing importance in a youngster's career - both in terms of opportunity and finances. Franchises send scouts to watch domestic games, and Majumdar points out how feats like Shivam Dube smashing Swapnil Singh for five sixes in an over in Ranji Trophy 2018-19 helps turn careers. That, Majumdar believes, comes with the constantly improving six-hitting ability of the current generation.

Changing times has forced Majumdar to quicken himself up as well. In his first seven domestic seasons, his strike rate in first-class cricket went past 50 only once. In the ten seasons since 2017-18, that has happened seven times, having even gone past 60 thrice.

"You need to keep changing your game - it won't be like any other player, so you need to change it according to your own strengths," Majumdar said. "If you don't do it, you won't progress. So I have changed my game as well. Earlier, I didn't go for the [big] shots. But now I do. So you have to think about it mentally, and you have to practice. Only then can you implement it."

But the changing approach hasn't hampered Majumdar's consistency. His 2372 runs and nine centuries since Ranji Trophy 2021-22 are the most for Bengal during this period. Majumdar last played a T20 in January 2021, and finds plenty of motivation in turning up for a first-class game. He says he loves waking up early in the morning and going for practice, while continuing to feel a "little nervous".

But over such a lengthy career, has Majumdar never felt like his time has come?

"Yes, I have felt like that many times," he said. "But I don't think I can do anything else [other than playing cricket], and nothing else excites me more than playing cricket. I keep telling myself 'one more chance' every time I have to turn up and play."

Now that one more chance comes ahead of Bengal's Ranji quarter-final this season. Majumdar has won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (2010-11) and the Vijay Hazare Trophy (2011-12) for Bengal, apart from winning the Duleep Trophy for East Zone (also in 2011-12). But both times that he was part of the Bengal side that made the Ranji final, in 2019-20 and 2022-23, Bengal lost out to Saurashtra. Majumdar chuckles when asked if he would retire only after lifting that one elusive trophy.

Having always looked at cricket as enjoyment, Majumdar hardly realised back in the day that even cricket could be a career option. But higher honours came in 2012, when he played for Pune Warriors in the IPL, and both first-class matches for India A on the tour of New Zealand later that year.

Majumdar says he did "have that thing" somewhere in his mind for another "two or three years" after his stint with India A that a senior team call-up could be on its way. But the dream of wearing the India jersey fully faded away "in 2017 or 2018".

Now, though, Majumdar's focus lies solely on the one domestic trophy missing from his cabinet. But he isn't thinking that far ahead yet even as Bengal are unbeaten heading into the knockouts.

Majumdar turns 42 in April, and even if Bengal miss out on lifting the Ranji Trophy and he's done by the time the next domestic season arrives, he will go down as one of their best.