The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Saurashtra takes on U.P.

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Saurashtra takes on U.P.

Special Correspondent

Baroda: Saurashtra’s progress to the knockout stage of India’s premier national championship has been quite remarkable. Saurashtra, for many years regarded a weakling, has evoked tremendous admiration for showing guts and gumption against seven quality teams in the Ranji Trophy Super League to merit a semifinal clash against Uttar Pradesh at the Motibagh Palace ground here from Saturday.

Drawn to play all the matches away from its home ground at the Race Course ground at Rajkot, Saurashtra thrived on the brilliance of batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and seamer Sandip Jobanputra with adequate support from veteran campaigner Sitanshu Kotak and young left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhruv.

Left-hander Kotak has been Saurashtra’s bulwark for several years, but Pujara has demonstrated technique, temperament and consistency in the country’s national championship since emerging out of the junior ranks.

Pujara tops the Super League with 796 runs with three centuries and as many half-centuries against some of the big teams. Kotak has collected 527 runs in his own sedate way.

On the bowling front, Jobanputra — fourth in the overall bowling average — has delivered the goods with a bag of 32 wickets at a little over 22.

Hopes of figuring in the title match at Mumbai from January 16 are high for Saurashtra, but it should find Uttar Pradesh a tough nut to crack. U.P. has a bunch of confident cricketers, with skipper Mohammad Kaif (562) and Suresh Raina (555) being prolific with the bat. The bowling has also contributed significantly to the team doing well. Playing his maiden first class season, the tall right arm seamer, Sudeep Tyagi has been a revelation, picking up 31 wickets. Pravin Kumar’s swing bowling has fetched him 20 wickets and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla has grabbed 27.

The teams: Uttar Pradesh (from): Mohd. Kaif (Captain), Rohit Prakash, Anshul Kapoor, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla, Pravin Kumar, Pravin Gupta, Ravikant Shukla, Mohd, Amir Khan, Sudeep Tyagi, Bhuvanesh Kumar, Mohd. Abid Khan, Rahat Elahi, Tahir Abbas, Parminder Singh.

Saurashtra (from): Jaidev Shah (captain), Sagar Jogiyani, Kanaiya Waghela, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sitanshu Kotak, Sandip Jobanputra, Sandeep Maniar, Kamlesh Makwana, Rakesh Dhruv, F. Bhambaniya, Sentil Jackson, Nikhil Rathod, S. Sanandiya, Jayesh Odedara, Chirag Pathak

Umpires: Suresh Shastri and Shavir Tarapore. Match Referee: Sanjay Patil.

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