The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Bengal takes on Andhra

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Tuesday, Dec 25, 2007
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Bengal takes on Andhra

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: Andhra and Bengal, playing their final Ranji Trophy Super League Group ‘B’ game at the Eden Gardens here from Tuesday, have eyes set on completely opposite direction.

The only common thread between the two teams is to garner maximum points from this game to hasten its move towards the desired direction. On the eve of the crucial game, Andhra is thinking of an outright win possibly with a bonus point to make it to the knock-out phase, while the host is mulling over an outright victory to escape relegation. Being the host and considering its strength is pace bowling, Bengal has prepared what looks like bouncy pitch for the four-day game. “We are here to win,” declared Andhra coach Syed Abid Ali. “The team has done well so far and earning full points from this match will place us in line for the championship.”

Good sign

His counterpart, B. Arun felt, “It is a good sign that both wants to play positive. We want a result from this encounter.”

The two teams also know that merely winning this game outright will not help their cause because a lot depends on the outcome of other matches.

The teams (from): Andhra: M.S.K. Prasad (capt., wk), L.N. Prasad Reddy, Hemal Watekar, A.S.K. Varma, Y. Gnaneswara Rao, A.G. Pradeep, B. Sumanth, G. Shankara Rao, D. Kalyankrishna, Israel Raju, P. Vijay Kumar, M. Suresh, V. Sandeep and B.V.S. Reddy.

Bengal: L.R. Shukla (capt.), Arindam Das, Anustup Majumdar, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Rana Chowdhury, Kamal Hassan Mondal, Priyankar Mukherjee, Ranadeb Bose, Shib Sankar Paul, Ashok Dinda, Arindam Ghosh, Iresh Saxena and Sourav Sarkar.

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