Close battle in the offing

Hyderabad: A crucial match awaits Hyderabad when it hosts Kerala in a Ranji Trophy Group ‘C’ match that gets underway at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium (RGICS) on Thursday. On present form, the visitors seem to be better placed, both in the batting and bowling departments, which could make all the difference.

As against Hyderabad, which could only manage to open their tally with one point from their drawn away encounter against Goa, Kerala came very close to pulling off an improbable win against Jammu and Kashmir at Srinagar. Nonetheless, they pocketed three vital points after taking securing a massive 155 runs first innings lead.

The host would do well to recall their last season showdown in Kerala, which ended as a thriller despite it being a draw, thanks to herculean efforts by Tanmay Agarwal and Akshath Reddy, whose centuries helped avoid an embarrassing defeat after skipper Sachin Baby’s scintillating unbeaten double century.

Hyderabad will have to exert pressure on the bowlers and goad them to do better than what they were in Goa if they hope to make a match of the ensuing showdown. Hyderabad, of course, will be banking on home advantage, in spite of the ground conditions having possibly become more helpful to the bowlers because of the recent rains. Ideally, both teams would be going all out for taking a first innings lead.

Squads-Hyderabad: G Hanuman Vihari (Captain), P Akshath Reddy, T Suman, Tanmay Agarwal, B Sandeep, B Anirudh, K Sumanth (wk), A Ashish Reddy, C V Milind, Sudeep Tyagi, Vishal Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Anwar Ahmed Khan, Akash Bhandari, Danny Derek Prince

Kerala: Sanju Samson (c), VA Jagadeesh, Akshay Kodoth, Rohan Prem, Sachin Baby, Raiphi Gomez, Nikhilesh Surendran, Karaparambil Monish, Ahmed Farzeen, MD Nidheesh, Sandeep Warrier, Nizar Niyas, Akshay Chandran, Fabid Ahmed, Robert Fernandez.