Hyderabad look to turn it around in new season

Hyderabad: It is a new season and Hyderabad would be hoping to come good with the appointment of a new coach in Milap Mewada, the former Baroda Ranji player. The new season begins with Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament from Wednesday and the Tanmay Agarwal-led Hyderabad take on Saurashtra in Elite Group E fixture in […]

Hyderabad: It is a new season and Hyderabad would be hoping to come good with the appointment of a new coach in Milap Mewada, the former Baroda Ranji player. The new season begins with Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament from Wednesday and the Tanmay Agarwal-led Hyderabad take on Saurashtra in Elite Group E fixture in Sultanpur (Haryana).

For the first time, Hyderabad fielded a full-strength team in the tournament barring a few omissions here and there. The biggest plus point is the return of former captain G Hanuma Vihari. The Test player took the transfer from Andhra to play for Hyderabad this season. Vihari’s sheer presence, according to Mewada, is a big boost to the team. Vihari has a few points to prove. He would take this tournament as a platform to showcase his all-round skills in the shorter format of the game. Having been overlooked by the IPL franchises, Vihari can make a big statement with his strong performances. He could also be a contender in IPL auction next year and stake a claim for a place in the Indian T20 and ODI teams.

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With Vihari and pacer Mohammed Siraj, Hyderabad could be one of the teams that could go the distance in the tournament. Siraj has gone from strength to strength in Test cricket and has been a success story for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL in the last two years. However, the Hyderabad pacer would be keen to find a place in the Indian team in the shorter formats of the game. Incidentally, he made a disastrous start to his international career in white-ball cricket.

Coach Mewada is quietly confident of a good show. “It is all about consistency. We have a good all-round team that can rise to the occasion,” he said.

The coach is all excited about young Thakur Tilak Varma. It is a big season for this left-hander. Mewada feels that Varma can make a big mark this season. The likes of senior players like Tanmay, B Sandeep, CV Milind, Rohit Rayudu, Mehdi Hasan and the young players like Sai Pragnay Reddy (wk), Ajad Dev Goud, Rakshann Readdi, Rahul Buddhi can give Hyderabad a realistic chance this year provided they translate the talent into performance.

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