Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 30: Orissa will play their opening game of 2015-15 Ranji season against hosts Vidarbha at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) ground starting Thursday.
The match assumes equal importance for both the teams as it is the opening game of the season and they say that morning shows the day. So an outright win will go a long way in boosting the morale of the team for the remainder of the season for Orissa.
The VCA pitch usually has something for the pacers and this time also the pitch is expected to behave in the same manner. So Orissa will bank on the tried and tested combination of Basant Mohanty, Deepak Behera and Suryakant Pradhan who delivered the goods in the last season.
Biplab Samantray will lead Orissa, while veteran S Badrinath who has joined the hosts as a pro will boost their batting.
It’s almost certain that Natraj Behera and Girija Rout will be the openers for Orissa. They will be followed in the batting order by Govind Poddar, Biplab, Abhilash Mallick, Anurag Sarangi and Rajesh Dhuper, who will be making his debut as a wicket-keeper batsman in Ranji Trophy.
Vidarbha are also a very strong outfit boasting of quality players like Badrinath and Wasim Jaffar who has also joined the team this year. The arrival of renowned coach Paras Mhambrey, will no doubt make them a very tough opposition as the Mumbai veteran is well-known for his cricketing acumen.
