A struggling Andhra, which suffered losses in its last two league games, takes on a confident Saurashtra in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the CSR Sarma College Ground here from Wednesday.
Like the choice of the venue, preferred ahead of the more established centres like Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, there is scope for surprises from the home team given the fact that it won all the three league matches it played this season here.
For the record, Andhra has qualified for the knock-out phase for the fourth time after 1985-86, 2001 (from the South Zone) and 2014-15 from the Plate Group. Interestingly, this is first time the team has made it to the last eight stage after coming into the Elite Group.
For Saurashtra, it is a second straight knockout appearance.
Key absence
Andhra will feel the absence of India star G. Hanuma Vihari, not just for his batting but for his experience as a leader too. Meanwhile, the likes of the seasoned Ricky Bhui, D.B. Prashanth, C.R. Gnaneswar, Karan Shinde and wicketkeeper-batsman and captain K. Srikar Bharat have been shouldering the responsibility with the willow quite well.
Andhra will ideally look for a big score and then hope that the bowling attack comprising lead wicket-taker and pacer K.V. Sasikanth (35 wickets this season) with new-ball partner Mohammad Rafi, left-arm pacer Y. Prithvi Raj or C.H. Stephen sees it through on a pitch expected to assist fast bowlers. The efficient off-break bowler Md. Shoaib Khan can be a surprise packet here.
The Unadkat factor
Saurashtra’s hopes will clearly hinge on the prowess of 28-year-old left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat, who has a stunning haul of 51 wickets from seven games (he was rested for the last league match).
On form, Saurashtra could well be the favourites but again a lot depends on how well the frontline batsmen Arpit Vasavada, Sheldon Jackson, Chirag Jain, all-rounder Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, and Avi Barot respond to the occasion.
In bowling, Unadkat leads the attack with pacer Prerak Mankad, with offie Kamlesh Makwana and left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh expected to give the pace duo the kind of support it looks for in a crunch game.
The teams (from): Andhra: K. Srikar Bharat (capt), Ricky Bhui, C.R. Gnaneswar, D.B. Prashant, B. Sumanth, Md. Shoaib Khan, K.V. Sasikanth, Y. Prithvi Raj, S.M.D. Rafi, A. Vinay Kumar, Nitish Kumar, Jyothi Sai, Karan Shinde, P. Girinath Reddy, C.H. Stephen and M. Praneeth.
Saurashtra: Arpit Vasavada (capt), Sheldon Jackson, Jaydev Unadkat, Snell Patel, Prerak Mankad, Harvik Desai, Samarth Vyas, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Kamlesh Makwana, Kushang Patel, Chetan Sakariya, Parthkumar Bhut, Avi Barot, Vishvaraj Jadeja and Kishan Parmar.
