The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Crucial tie for both Andhra and U.P.

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Tuesday, Jan 10, 2006

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Sport - Cricket

Crucial tie for both Andhra and U.P.

Sports Reporter

ANANTAPUR: In a do-or-die battle, Andhra takes on Mohammed Kaif-led Uttar Pradesh in the Elite Group B Ranji Trophy match at the picturesque Rural Development Trust sports center here on Tuesday.

It is a crucial contest for both the teams as maximum points from this encounter alone would give them a chance to stake their claim for the semifinal slot. Andhra, with seven points, would aim for the bonus point. UP on the other hand, with nine points, would like to get the all-important four points and yet will have to agonizingly wait for the outcome of the other fixtures.

Andhra's coach Abid Ali, keen to go for the kill' is contemplating packing the bowling department with the medium pacers as they took the maximum wickets in the earlier three encounters at the RDT pitch. Andhra's spearhead K. S. Shabuddin has taken 30 so far, out of which, 26 were here. "This is a seamy wicket and will help the medium pacers. Batsmen who wish to stay in the middle for longer duration would get plenty of runs. It is not a spinner-friendly strip. They can only contain the batsmen and they cannot expect the huge turns," Abid Ali said.

The poor show by Andhra batsmen at Vizag (against Punjab) is still haunting the coach. "We lost eight wickets for just 40-odd runs and lost the initiative. While the boys are playing the pre-lunch and post tea sessions well, they are messing up the crucial post lunch session," he said.

Andhra has dropped T. Suman and Vikram Varma and brought in L. N. Prasad Reddy and Elaizar.

Uttar Pradesh manager Gopal Sharma said the team is looking rejuvenated with the return of Mohammed Kaif and Suresh Raina.

The teams (from):

Andhra: Y. Venugopala Rao, M.S.K. Prasad, Y. Gnaneswara Rao, K.S. Shabuddin, D. Kalyan Krishna, A.T. Rayudu, Md. Faiq, K. Kumaraswamy, I. Israel Raju, L. N. Prasad Reddy, G. Elaizar, Y. Lakshman Kishore, B. Balajikrishna Singh, A.S.K. Varma. Coach: Abid Ali.

Uttar Pradesh: Mohammed Kaif, Jyoti Yadav, Ashish Winston Zaidi, Piyush Chawla, Md. Amir Khan, Gyanendra Pandey, Suresh Raina, Salab Srivastava, Rohit Prakash, Praveen Gupta, Praveen Kumar, Rizwan Shamshad, Shivakant Mishra, Ali Hamid, Utkash Chandra. Coach: Rajinder Singh Hans. manager: Gopal Sharma.

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