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Hyderabad hopes to do well

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad think-tank, in search of a much sought after win, has instructed the groundstaff to ensure a result-oriented pitch for the four-day Ranji Trophy Super League match against Orissa beginning at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Uppal) on Saturday.

For a team which was the worst-hit in terms of defections to the Indian Cricket League (with seven Ranji players crossing over), Hyderabad did well to salvage draws from seemingly impossible positions against Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and also clinched he first innings lead against Punjab.

“This is remarkable considering that most of the players are playing their first full season. They have lots of hope and have an assured touch of longevity in the team,” said coach Kanwaljit Singh.

Interestingly, he doesn’t believe that the spinners were unequal to the task against Uttar Pradesh. “You have to remember they were defending a very small total and had to bowl on a placid wicket,” he pointed out.

But things have to change for Hyderabad to make necessary amends. It should not miss out even a single point when it has a chance to score it.

Good batting

The batting has been good with opener D.B. Ravi Teja showing the desired consistency and the experienced southpaw S. Daniel Manohar silencing the critics with some good knocks.

More importantly, the much-maligned N. Arjun Yadav is in good nick this season and to prove a point or two, scored a brilliant match-saving century against Baroda last week.

“No doubt, most of the batsmen have to convert the good starts into big knocks. We hope they start doing so from this match,” says Kanwaljit.

As for Orissa, the presence of India discards Debasis Mohanty and Siba Sunder Das, who will be leading the side, makes it stronger. It has the wherewithal to do well and hopes to open its account in the points table after having suffered defeats against Uttar Pradesh and Andhra.

The teams (from):

Hyderabad: N. Arjun Yadav (capt.), D.B. Ravi Teja, S. Daniel Manohar, S. Anoop Pai, Amol Shinde, P. Pragyan Ojha, Habeeb Ahmed, S.M. Shoaib, Ashwin Yadav, M.P. Arjun, A. Lalith Mohan, Danny Derek Prince, Vishal Sharma, Mohd. Khader and Santosh Yadav. Coaches: Vivek Jaisimha & Kanwaljit Singh.

Orissa: Siba Sundar Das (capt.), Niranjan Behera (vice-capt), Debasis Mohanty, Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Rashmi Ranjan Das, Haladhar Das, Pretamjit Das, Basanta Mohanty, Piyas Ranjan Sinha, P. Jayachandra, Rakesh Mohanty, Saurav Saighal, Deepak Behera, Bikas Pati and Sukanta Khatua. Coach: Abakash Khatua.

Umpires: Messrs C.R. Mohite and A.Y. Dandekar.

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