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A battle of equals

Special Correspondent

MOHALI: Spells of drizzle on Monday have raised doubts over the timely start to the Ranji Trophy Elite group league match between Hyderabad and Punjab at the PCA Stadium here.

Though the square and a vast area of the outfield are very covered, a well-equipped ground-staff here still have their task cut out to set right the soggy surface closer to the boundary ropes. If the teams could get some practice on the eve of the four-day match, it was thanks to the fine indoor facility available here.

Notwithstanding the prospects of a delayed start, the teams are keen to get on with the proceedings and do enough to gain some points, at least on the basis of the first innings lead. Last week, the teams hosted their campaign-opening games and ended up conceding leads.

If Mumbai took three points off Punjab, Himachal Pradesh returned with a similar tally from Hyderabad. With winter slowly setting in, the conditions here are sure to favour the seam bowlers particular in the pre-lunch sessions. In this department, Punjab looks better. Should it get colder in the coming days, it will be tougher for the Hyderabad players to get their act together.

Laxman raring to go

Fortunately for Hyderabad, the amiable V.V.S. Laxman is back at the helm after missing the opener due to back sprain. He is gearing up for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka.

“It is always great to represent your State, after all, this is where it all started,” says Laxman, who played only one match against Rajasthan last season and made his presence felt with a double-century.

Ojha, unavailable for this match, is part of the Board President’s XI that plays the visiting Sri Lanka team in a three-day match beginning in Mumbai on November 11.

For Punjab, too, it is an equally important game. After letting Mumbai off the hook and then fighting all the way to salvage a draw, Punjab is wishing to repeat its last season’s victory — by nine wickets — over the next four days.

Coach Bhupinder Singh is hopeful of this young Punjab team doing well with fast bowlers Harmeet Singh, who plays for Deccan Chargers in the IPL, Love Ablish and M.S. Gony doing the job expected off them in friendly conditions.

Given the head-to-head record of the two teams in the past three seasons, it should be anybody’s game.

In the 2006-07 season, Hyderabad won the home game by one wicket. In the following season, Hyderabad snatched the first innings lead here but last December, Punjab scored a crushing nine-wicket victory.

A battle of equals in the offing provided rain does not play spoilsport.

The teams: Hyderabad: V.V. S. Laxman (capt.), Tirumalasetti Suman, Ambati Rayudu, Anoop Pai, Arjun Yadav, Abhinav Kumar, Syed Quadri, Munagala Praneet Arjun, Alfred Absolem, Ashwin Yadav, Anirudh Singh, Lalit Mohan, Ibrahim Khaleel and Mohammad Khader.

Punjab: Ankur Kakkar (capt.), Sunny Sohal, Ravi Inder Singh, Uday Kaul, Taruwar Kohli, Pankaj Dharmani, Gaurav Gambhir, Rahul Sharma, Manpreet Singh Gony, Harmeet Singh, Luv Ablish, Bharat Loomba, Varun Khanna, Chandan Madan and Vishwas Bhalla.

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