The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Saurashtra, Rajasthan confident

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 02, 2006

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Saurashtra, Rajasthan confident

Special Correspondent

Rajkot: Saurashtra, once regarded as the cradle of Indian cricket, is rocking again after decades. Two of its juniors, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravi Jadeja, whom experts believe have a bright future, have been picked in the Indian team for the Under-19 World Cup. And from Thursday onwards, their seniors will be in pursuit of a title, the Ranji Trophy Plate Group championship.

By displaying their wares in the league and semifinals, Saurashtra's present generation, including the notable Sitanshu Kotak, is prepared to face a new challenge against the determined bunch from Rajasthan, marshalled by former India captain Ajay Jadeja. Having performed well so far, the confidence of Rajasathan players is abundant for the big match.

The home team will also look forward to creating history of sorts. There may not be too many old timers to recall Nawanagar's victory over Bengal in the National championship final almost seven decades ago.

The teams (from): Rajasthan: Ajay Jadeja (capt.), Gagan Khoda, Nikhil Doru, Mithun Beerala, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Kanwat, Naresh Gehlot, Dishant Yagnik, Rohit Jhalani, Sanjay Gill, Pankaj Singh, Shailendra Gehlot, Vikrant Yadav, Afroz Khan, Md. Aslam, Shamsher Singh.

Saurashtra: Jaydev Shah (capt.), Sitanshu Kotak, Kanhaiya Vaghela, Prashant Joshi, Benson Songavkar, Rakesh Dhruv, Haresh Dhabi, Nikhil Rathod, Feroze Bambhaniya, Kamlesh Makvana, Sandeep Jobanputra, Sandeep Maniar, Sendhil Natkana, Pratik Mehta, Sagar Jogiyani.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail