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Tuesday, Dec 25, 2007
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A must-win encounter for Hyderabad

V.V. Subrahmanyam

The pitch should assist the spinners
Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha is the leading wicket-taker for Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: It is a must-win situation for Hyderabad to stay in contention for a knock-out berth and the first innings lead is mandatory to stay in the Super League and avoid relegation to the Plate Group when it takes on Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘B’ match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Uppal) here from Tuesday.

The points position before the start of the final round in this group is as follows: Baroda 18, Uttar Pradesh 14, Punjab 13, Andhra 12, Orissa 10, Hyderabad 10 and Bengal 8. This makes up for a scenario where the Hyderabad think-tank has to come up with something special in this match.

If the pitch is any indication, Hyderabad coaches Vivek Jaisimha and Kanwaljit Singh seem to have opted for a sporting wicket where a result cannot be ruled out.

The Hyderabad batting has to be really consistent. Opener D.B. Ravi Teja (519 runs), S. Anoop Pai (324 ), captain N. Arjun Yadav (306) and Amol Shinde (306) should come up with big knocks.

“There is no other way for us. The batting has to really support the bowlers who did a remarkable job against Andhra in the last match,” said Kanwaljit.

Among the bowlers, left-arm spinner and leading wicket-taker Pragyan Ojha (20 wickets), along with medium-pacers M.P. Arjun (10 wickets) and Ashwin Yadav (13 wickets) have to strike to trouble the consistent UP batting line-up. This is a match where there is no scope for complacency.

Help for spinners

“The pitch should assist the spinners. We might go in with two medium-pacers and either left-arm spinner Lalit Mohan or off-spinner Vishal Sharma (if he plays will be making his debut),” said Kanwaljit. “We are hoping for the best since we are capable of pulling off a special performance,” he insisted.

Uttar Pradesh, led by India discard Mohd. Kaif, cannot take this contest lightly either for, a defeat at the hands of Hyderabad might well push the team into oblivion, as all sorts of permutations and combinations will come into play for qualification for the knock-out phase.

Suresh Raina (510), Mohd. Kaif (425), Ravikant Shukla (221) and R.P. Srivastava (242) have clicked with the bat at one time or the other to pull the team out of trouble. And, UP’s hopes depend a lot on this line-up if the bowlers Praveen Gupta, Sandeep Tyagi (leading wicket-taker with 28 wickets) and medium-pacer Praveen Kumar and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla are to make a match out of it.

The teams (from): Hyderabad: N. Arjun Yadav (capt), D.B. Ravi Teja, S. Daniel Manohar, S. Anoop Pai, Amol Shinde, Abhinav Kumar (wk), Mohd Shakeer, P. Pragyan Ojha, M.P. Arjun, Ashwin Yadav, A. Lalith Mohan, Vishal Sharma, Danny Derek Prince and P.M. Sarvesh Kumar. Coaches: Vivek Jaisimha & Kanwaljeet Singh. Manager: Ch. Hanumantha Rao.

Uttar Pradesh: Mohd Kaif (capt), Mohd Abid Khan, Sahir Abbas, R. Ilahi, Sandeep Tyagi, Suraj Pratap Singh, Amir Khan, Praveen Gupta, N. Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Ravikanth Shukla, Rohit Prakash, Suresh Raina, Shivkant Shukla and Tanmay Srivastava.

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