RANJI UNPAUSEDDefending champions Vidarbha take on Andhra asred-ball tournament resumes after two white-ball events

 

 

 

AFTER two white-ball tournaments, one of which they won for their first time, a confident Vidarbha will take on Andhra in their sixth and penultimate round Elite Group A Ranji Trophy which resumes nationwide, at Anantapur on Thursday. The Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20Tournament, followed byVijayHazareTrophy (one-dayers), were sandwiched between the Ranji Trophy rounds. Vidarbha won their maiden white-ball tournament lifting Hazare trophyunderyoungskipper Harsh Dubey the other day. In first part of Ranji Trophy, Vidarbha were led by stumper AkshayWadkar and the teamdid pretty well. But with the wicketkeeper-batter indisposed, Vidarbha reins have been handed over to Dubey. Dubey’s deputy in white-ball cricketYashThakurhasbeengiven a break and left-handedYash Rathod will be the vice-captain.

 

Lanky seamer Aditya Thakare is back in the squad after missing much part of the season due to injury. Vidarbha do not boast of too maywhite-ballspecialists and as such there is not a sea-change in the squad that won that title recently. Moreover, with not much gap in between Hazare final and Andhra game, most of the players did not come to Nagpur and directlywent to Anantapur from Bengaluru for thered-ball game. DefendingRanjiTrophychampions Vidarbha are sitting right on topof the tableasofnow.From their fivematches, theyhavewon three and drawn two accumulating 25 points. Andhra are the second-best team in Group A with 22 points. Vidarbha started the tourney with a bang by thumping minnows Nagaland by an innings and 179 runs.

 

They could not forcewinsandwereheld todraws by Jharkhand andTamilNaduin their next games. Vidarbha got the better of Odisha by 100 runs for second win and then defeated Baroda by 144 runs in the last game before going into the break. Dubey sounded confident of adjusting to the change of ball colour ahead of the clash. “It does not takemuch time to change the mindset (from switching toredball fromwhite). We will adjust soon,” Dubey had told ‘The Hitavada’ before leaving Bengaluru. Andhraarecoming to the tournament after three straightwins. With draws against UP and Baroda,AndhradefeatedOdisha, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand. Itwillbeabattle among equals and it will be interesting to look who blink first. Match starts 9.00 am. THE SQUADS Vidarbha: Harsh Dubey (Captain), Atharva Taide, Yash Rathod (Vice-Captain), Aman Mokhade, Parth Rekhade, Nachiket Bhute, Darshan Nalkande, Praful Hinge, Yash Kadam,ShubhamKapse,Shivam Deshmukh (WK),GaneshBhosle, Satyam Bhoyar, Aditya Thakare, RohitBinkar (WK),DhruvShorey, R Samarth. Andhra: Ricky Bhui (C), Siraparapu Ashish, Ashwin Hebbar, Srikar Bharat, Karan Shinde, Prithvi Raj, Satyanarayana Raju, Shaik Rasheed, Abhishek Reddy, Revanth Reddy, Kavuri Saiteja, Yara Sandeep, KV Sasikanth, Saurabh Kumar, Cheepurapalli Stephen, Tripurana Vijay.