The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Upbeat Kerala takes on Services

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Thursday, Nov 15, 2007
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Upbeat Kerala takes on Services

Sports Reporter

Palakkad: An outright win over Vidarbha has boosted the morale of Kerala. The host will look forward to repeat the act when it takes on Services Sports Control Board in the Ranji Trophy Plate league encounter at the Fort Maidan here on Thursday.

The host will rely on its youngsters to do the job as in Nagpur. “As I said earlier, we don’t have import players but we still made a good beginning. But one match does not make a summer. We look for consistency. The boys are talented and are prepared to take up even stiffer challenges,” said Vedam Hariharan, Kerala’s coach.

The Services side, which allowed Tripura to escape with a battling last-wicket draw, is desperately looking for points. It’s confident of upsetting Kerala’s applecart. “The match is going to be ours because I believe in my boys’ abilities,” said Biju Nair, the coach-cum-manager of the visiting side.

“We have a good batting line-up and an equally effective bowling department, but our trump card will be Yashpal Singh, who scored a century in the opening match,” he added.

The teams (from): Kerala: Sony K. Cheruvathur (captain), V.A. Jagadeesh, Sreekumar Nair, Robert Fernandez, Rohan Prem, Raiphy Vincent Gomes, Vinan G. Nair (wk), Tinu Yohannan, Prasant Chandran, P. Prasanth, Sebastian Antony, Prasanth Parameswaran, K. Rakesh, S. Anish, Sambasiva Sharma.

Services: Yashpal Singh (captain), Jasvir Singh, Soumik Chatterjee, Tahir Khan, Devender Israni (wk), Mumtaz Qadir, Satish Upadhyay, Arun Sharma, A.K. Mohanty, Krushna Chavda (wk), Hari Prasad, Fazil Muhammed, Pankaj Kumar, Surender Singh Patwal, Rakesh Kumar.