Bhubaneswar: Hosts Orissa will start favourites when they take on a lower-ranked Tripura in their opening Ranji Trophy four-day encounter of the current season at the Vikas Ground here starting Friday.
Going by the record and their past exploits against the opponents, last year’s quarterfinalist Orissa look a formidable unit against the fragile visitors. Both the teams have faced each other 19 times with Orissa winning 16, while the other three games have been drawn.
Skipper Govind Poddar and coach Shiv Sundar Das have already made their intentions pretty clear. “We are not taking Tripura lightly and our focus will be to get full points from the game,” Govind stated after the team’s training Thursday.
Orissa have pacers like Basant Mohanty, Deepak Behera and Suryakanta Pradhan who can take advantage of the initial life the pitch may offer because it has been covered for the last couple of days. Basant stands on the cusp of an unique achievement – two more victims will make him the second Oriya bowler to reach the 300-wicket landmark. The slow attack will be led by left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh, who impressed one and all by taking 28 wickets last year.
But if Orissa lose the touch and they have to bat first, then the top order especially the openers will have a tough job at hand. The team expect comeback man Natraj Behera and promising star Govind Poddar to negotiate the early movement with the ball and give them a good start.
Meanwhile coach Shiv Sundar Das said that the seniors will have to take responsibility if Orissa bat first. “Senior players like Biplab Samantray and Govind Poddar and emerging batsman Subhranshu Senapati will have to perform well, if Orissa want to put pressure on the visitors,” Das said.
Tripura have professionals like India U-19 wicket keeper batsman Smit Patel, former KKR batsman Yashpal Singh and Punjab all-rounder Gurjinder Singh in their ranks. The all-round prowess of skipper Manisankar Murasingh and his deputy Udiyan Bose makes them a challenging outfit.
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