Confident TN up against youthful Punjab

Confident TN up against youthful Punjab
KV VASUDEVAN

CHENNAI, MARCH 29: If anything, Tamil Nadu's bowling resources would be put to test by a bunch of in-form Punjab batsmen when the two sides clash over four days in the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy at the MAC Stadium here from Friday.

A sporting wicket on the face of it may just be what the curator K Parthasarathy had ordered. A lot of bounce early on but likely to slow down and last the course were the views shared by the rival skippers Vikram Rathour and S Sharath. In the event of Robin Singh landing on time, he would take a lot of burden off Sharath's shoulders.

In a similar scenario, Punjab had beaten TN on first innings in last year's edition. Besides negating that arithmetical equation, Sharath has a lot to look forward to. The recent double hundred against UP at Kanpur did come on a batting track. But the 750-plus hard earned runs this season is a measure of his consistency.

It is the other `S' who had garnered all the attention. S Sriram, having had the feel of the international stage, is riding high with a string of tons. The near triple ton against UP announced his staying powers and the ability to drop anchor when the chips are down.

Sadagopan Ramesh, fighting fit to overcome a fractured thumb, is due for a big score. The free-stroking Ramesh has a chance to get back his confidence. Hemang Badani, JR Madanagopal and Reuben Paul have been among the runs. It is a big game for Reuben and TN could do with his contribution, in front of and behind the wickets.

Kumaran, in and out of the Indian team, S Mahesh and Gokulakrishnan will shore up the pace attack, and effective use of the conditions in the first hour from the trio could mean a lot. Sriram and Aashish Kapoor then will have a major role to play.

Meanwhile, there is something in this young Punjab side that inspires confidence. The boys are in good nick, Rathour reflected.

Yuvraj Singh, Ravneet Ricky, Pankaj Dharmani are fairly well established in the team, thanks to their batting exploits, while Rathour himself has been in good nick this season. As such, they seem quite capable of taking on the might of TN. Spinner Harbhajan Singh should be Punjab's trump card.

The worrying factor for Punjab is the humidity as the conditions could get pretty tough, while Tamil Nadu would be enjoying the obvious benefits of playing on home grounds.

Teams (from)

Tamil Nadu: Sridharan Sharath (captain), Sadagopan Ramesh, Aashish Kapoor, Hemang Badani, S Sriram, JR Madanagopal, Sadagopan Mahesh, DJ Gokulakrishnan, Reuben Paul, Vasanth Saravanan, Rajat Bhatia, Thiru Kumaran, Tanvir Jabbar, Anand George, S Medappa, Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan & Satish Viswanathan

PUNJAB (from): Vikram Rathour (captain), Ravneet Ricky, Yuvraj Singh, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Pankaj Dharmani, Dinesh Mongia, Sanjay Kumar, Harminder Singh Jugnu, Sandeep Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Navdeep Singh, Gagandeep Singh, RP Singh and S Sanwal.

Umpires:MS Ranawat (Udaipur) & SD Ranade (Pune). Match referee: JH Vin (Baroda)

Azhar vs Kaif?

KANPUR: Former India captain Mohd Azharuddin, after a successful comeback to the National side, and Mohammad Kaif, batsman-in-waiting for the middle-order slot, will renew their rivalry when Uttar Pradesh meet Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final starting here from Thursday.

A keen tussle is on the cards with the hosts eager to put the record straight by avenging their defeat by Hyderabad in 1998 season.

Still smarting from the battering they received against Tamil Nadu in their last super-league encounter, UP will be looking to redeem some lost pride while Hyderabad come fresh from a 71-run victory over Baroda in their last match.

Both teams are waiting for their star batsmen -- Azhar and Junior World Cup winning captain Kaif -- to return from the tri-nation cricket series in Sharjah. They are expected to join their respective sides by late evening.

UP's hopes hinge on good scores by Kaif, Saurabh Shukla -- centurion in the last match -- and captain Gyanendra Pandey besides their bowlers's ability to restrict the opposition, a feature sorely missing in the last few matches.

Pandey exuded confidence his players will not repeat the mistakes of their last match and put up a better performance. ``We have a chance to improve our image and place ourselvesin the semis,'' he said.

Hyderabad will depend on their bowling line-up spearheaded by skipper and former India left-arm spinner Venkatpathy Raju and comprising off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh, who has taken 46 wickets this season, and all-rounder Parth Satwalkar, all of whom came good in their last match against Baroda.

Their batsmen also look in a fine nick with VVS Laxman, Venka Pratap, Nand Kishore, D Vinay Kumar and Satwalkar among the runs this season.

Both the teams had a work out this morning and spentalmost three hours at the net at the Green Park stadium, the venue for the match.

The Teams

UP (from): Gyanendra Pandey (captain), Manoj Mudgal, Jyoti Yadav, Rizwan Shamshad, Saurabh Shukla, Parvinder Singh, Musi Raza, Mohd Kaif, Ashish Winston Zaidi, Salabh Srivastava, Mrityunjay Tripathi, Ratnesh Mishra, Pankaj Tiwari, Shivadhar Bajpai. Coach: Shashikant Khandekar.
Hyderabad (from): Venkatpathy Raju (captain), VVS Laxman, Venka Pratap, Nand Kishore, D Vinay Kumar, Parth Satwalkar, Kanwaljit Singh, Narendra Pal Singh, Arjun Yadav, Riyaz Sheikh, Yuvraj Singh, Faiyal Ahemd, Anirudh Singh, Danial Manohar, Raghuram Shivaji Yadav. Coach: Arshad Ayub.
Umpires: Umesh Kumar (Delhi) & Alok Bhattacharya (Calcutta).