Ranji Trophy: Uphill task for Hyderabad against Saurashtra

The bottom-placed hosts face in-form table toppers in Ranji Trophy at Gymkhana

Hyderabad: The season for Hyderabad went from bad to worst. Having started their campaign with a draw against Tamil Nadu, they suffered losses in the next three games. With just one point after four games, Hyderabad are languishing at the bottom in Group B.

They will face a stern test when they host Saurashtra – a team that is on a roll – in the round five match at Gymkhana from Tuesday.

---

With Hyderabad set to host the India, New Zealand first ODI on January 18 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal, the Gymkhana will host this round of match.

The campaign for Hyderabad didn’t go according to their plans. The team, which is short on experience with only a few players like Tanmay Agarwal and T Ravi Teja playing more matches, most of the players in the squad have played only a couple of matches.

Hyderabad coach Milap Mewada also feels the inexperience of the side is one of the reasons for their poor campaign. “See, all the other teams have players who have played more matches unlike our team. We have a very young team and most of them have played very few matches. A few made their debut this season while others are playing after a gap. So it is a bit difficult. The red ball game requires a lot of patience. We need to be patient with this team,” said the coach.

For Hyderabad, it was only the captain Tanmay Agarwal (463 runs from 4 matches) who was doing bulk of the scoring while others failed to make their presence felt. Barring K Rohit Rayudu and Mickhil Jaiswal’s rare success, lack of consistency has been their nemesis.

In the bowling department, it was only all-rounder Ravi Teja and Kartikeya Kak, who picked up 15 wickets each, who looked like posing a threat. The remaining bowling attack looks lackluster.

On the other hand, Saurashtra are at the top of the table with 19 points with two wins and two draws. The visitors are runaway favourites as they are coming into this match on the back morale-boosting an innings and 214 runs win over Delhi.

Their skipper Jaydev Unadkat scripted history when he took a first-over hat-trick en route to a 8/39 first-inning bowling figures. Their batting too looks solid with Harvik Desai, Jay Goil and Arpit Vasavada in good knick. The hosts need to play out of their skin to thwart the visitors.