Bhubaneswar: Orissa will start their Group B Ranji Trophy campaign Thursday in the 2016/17 season against known adversary Vidarbha, but on uncharted territory as the game will be played at a neutral venue at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam. This is the first time that the tournament will be played on neutral venues and none of the sides will be able to derive home advantage.
Orissa have more or less picked up the key players who represented the state last season. Vidarbha, on the other hand, have been strengthened by the addition of India ODI player Ambati Rayudu who has left Baroda after six seasons. His presence will definitely be a huge boost to the Vidarbha batting line-up.
Orissa have two newcomers in the side – Abinash Saha and Sandeep Patnaik – both of whom have got their maiden Ranji Trophy call up. Among the two, Sandeep is expected to make his debut against Vidarbha. He is a batsman, who has scored heavily in the under-19 level and is also a handy off-spinner. Definitely he will add balance to the Orissa side.
The bowling responsibilities will once more be shared by old warhorses Basant Mohanty and Deepak Behera and the newly-established Suryakant Pradhan. Left-arm orthodox Dhiraj Singh will lead the spin department.
Batting-wise skipper Govind Poddar, Biplab Samantray, Anurag Sarangee and the upcoming Pratik Das will have to play a key role. Last year against the same Vidarbha attack, Govind got a wonderful hundred and he would certainly look to start his campaign as captain in the four-day format of the game with a sizeable contribution with the bat.
Vidarbha have got quite a few players who are good performers at the domestic level. Among them are skipper Faiz Faizal, Srikanth Wagh, Akshay Wakhare (got nine wickets against Orissa last year), Salabh Srivastava and Ganesh Satish. All these players have been fringe India players and will once again try and stake their claims to the national side with good performances.
Govind lamented Wednesday, that the monsoons hampered Orissa’s preparation for the upcoming game. “We rarely got a full session of practice due to the inclement weather in Cuttack,” informed Govind over the phone from Visakhapatnam. “The weather has severely affected our preparations,” he added.
In spite of the lack of preparations, Govind however, is hopeful that the team will put up a good show. “We have got experience in our ranks, that will stand us in good stead,” he stated. “Having played Vidarbha a few times in the last 2-3 seasons, we are aware of their strengths and weaknesses. So we will play accordingly,” he added.
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