Hyderabad, Dec. 7: Hyderabad, yearning to break back into the Ranji Trophy Elite group, have an uphill task when they take on Madhya Pradesh in the last league match of the Plate division beginning at the Gymkhana ground here on Wednesday.
The fourth-placed hosts need an outright win against the table-toppers and also require results of other matches going in their favour.
An improbable help from bottom-placed Tripura, which plays Goa, is sought. Should Tripura maintain their season’s record of all-defeats, Hyderabad will remain in Plate division even if they beat MP. Anything other than a loss for Tripura will be City’s delight provided they beat MP and Rajasthan draws or wins against Jharkhand.
Should Rajasthan lose, there could be a three-way tie at the top or for the second spot (provided Goa wins). In such a scenario the key to the deadlock would be the most number of outright wins and if still same, the run quotient.
Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are on top with 15 points each from four games. Goa are third with 11 points and Hyderabad have 10 points from as many matches. Desperate times.
The Hyderabad Cricket Association has understandably adopted desperate measures. The result-oriented track at Gymkhana has been chosen for the game, and an announcement made to calm the pro-Telangana protesters. “A decision has been taken by the HCA to develop all the affiliated district cricket associations and establish coaching centres in Mahbubnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, Warangal, Khammam, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Adilabad,” a press release said on Tuesday.
Also, “to provide better infrastructure and other facilities, the HCA has sanctioned `10 lakh to each district for the development of the game of cricket,” the release said.
The Teams
Hyderabad: D.B. Ravi Teja (captain), P. Akshath Reddy, Shashank Nag, G.H. Vihari, B. Sandeep, Ahmed Quadri, Ibrahim Khaleel, Kaneshkk Naidu, Alfred Absolem, Paramveer Singh, Baseer, PSS Bharath, Mehdi Hassan, Parth Jhala. Coach: M.V. Sridhar. Fielding coach: Noel David. Physio: S. Madhanagopal. Trainer: Gajanan Reddy.
Madhya Pradesh: Devendra Bundela (captain), Zafar Ali, Asif Ali, Naman Ojha, Amarjeet Singh, Abbas Ali, Murtaza Ali, Anand Rajan, Anand Singh, Ankit Sharma, Harpreet Singh, Monish Mishra, Ishwar Pandey, Jalaj Saxena, T.P. Sudhindra.