Hyderabad Vs Orissa Ranji Trophy Cricket Match

The 4-day Elite Group B Ranji Trophy league match between Hyderabad and Orissa will take place at the Visakha Cricket Ground of the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal, from 1st to 4th December.

Arjun Yadav will continue to be the captain of Hyderabad in the absence of V V S Laxman. The team is playing its 4th match of the tournament, having garnered a total of 5 points from the three matches it has played so far. It is at the 5th position in the points table of Group B, of seven teams.

With Orissa being promoted to the elite division from the plate division during this season and struggling to face the teams from the elite division, Hyderabad will aim to go all out in this outing, since the remaining two matches are against tough teams like Andhra and Uttar Pradesh.

Hyderabad has drawn all its previous three encounters, having conceded a first innings lead to Bengal and Baroda, and having managed a slender first innings lead against Punjab. The team hasn't been able to find form as most of its senior players, like Anirudh Singh, A T Rayudu, Vinay Kumar, Kaushik Reddy, Ibrahim Khaleel, Inder Shekhar Reddy, Shashank Nag and Alfred Absolom, have joined the lucrative Indian Cricket League. The batsmen, with the exception of Daniel Manohar and Ravi Teja, haven't been consistent. On the bowling side, the all-time-reliable Pragyan Ojha has been in good form. The team's opening bowler S M Shoaib has been a letdown so far.

On the other hand, Orissa lost both its matches played - against Uttar Pradesh by an innings and 10 runs, and against Andhra Pradesh by 102 runs. In both the matches, neither the batsmen nor the bowlers gave a fight. The team relies heavily on India discards batsman Shib Sunder Das and bowler Debashish Mohanty, both unable to find form so far. The team is lying in the seventh and last place in the points table of Group B.

The pitch at the Visakha Cricket Ground traditionally assists bowlers, but during the last match, the pitch went flat on the last day. So anything is possible.

The match starts at 9:00am everyday, and entry is free. Please contact the Hyderabad Cricket Association at 2790-5676 for further details.