The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Hyderabad keen to finish off in style

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Friday, Dec 31, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Hyderabad keen to finish off in style

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD, DEC. 30. Hyderabad captain V.V.S. Laxman is keen to finish off the league engagements in style with an emphatic win over Assam in the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite group `B' match at Gymkhana Grounds, starting on Friday.

It has been a remarkable transformation for the Hyderabadis, after their humiliating loss to Tamil Nadu in the opener. Hyderabad, after managing to pull back from the brink of relegation to Plate Group, now has a chance to even top the group by recording an outright win with a bonus point in the final encounter.

On a sporting pitch, the Hyderabad captain is once again looking to his tried and trusted medium-pacer Narinderpal Singh to play a key role. The only headache for the host is the inconsistent batting.

"I personally believe that they can bat much better and am positively looking for a score of 300-plus on this pitch," Laxman said.

As per the rules, four points in this match would be good enough for Hyderabad to qualify, and the bonus point will only decide on who will top the group.

The seriousness in Hyderabad camp on the eve of the match was evident, as it had sought the services of former captain S.L. Venkatapathy Raju, who retired recently. "We called him to boost the morale of the players and also share his vast experience with the young boys whom he knows pretty well," said Vivek Jaisimha, the assistant coach.

On the other hand, Assam is still searching for that elusive win. Coach Dinesh Nanavaty said his team had nothing to lose, having already been relegated to the Plate Group.

"We only hope to salvage some pride at least in the last match, " he said.

The teams (from): Hyderabad: V.V.S. Laxman (capt.), S. Daniel Manohar, P. Sashank Nag, Anirudh Singh, A.T. Rayudu, D. Vinay Kumar, N.S. Arjun Yadav, Ibrahim Khaleel (wk), N.P. Singh, S. Vishnuvardhan, P. Indrasekhar Reddy, Kaushik Reddy, Shiv Shankar, P.S. Niranjan, Abhinav Kumar and T. Suman. Chief coach: N. Rajesh Yadav. Assistant coach: Vivek Jaisimha.

Assam: Zakaria Zuffri (capt.), Javed Zaman, Parag Das, Sukhvinder Singh, Vasanth Saravanan, R. Satish, Gokul Sharma, Mrigen Talukdar, Arlen Konwar, R.K. Yadav, Mark Ingty, Sajjad Hussain, Jeson Lamare, Babyram Magor. Coach: Dinesh Nanavathy. Manager: Prof. Roopkamal Kakati.

Umpires: Messrs B.A. Jamula (Mumbai) & R.Y. Deshmukh (Baroda). Match referee: Rajinder Goel (Haryana).

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