Cool weather and a pitch with a tinge of green greeted Kerala’s cricketers on the eve of their Ranji Trophy encounter against Jammu & Kashmir at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium here on Wednesday.
And they are up against a strong opponent as they begin their campaign in a new season; Jammu had played in the elitist of groups last year and had shocked Mumbai. Yes, there have been troubles in the Jammu cricket administration of late, as two separate teams were announced and this match had almost been moved to Perinthalmanna.
But, Jammu’s cricketers would not be dwelling upon those issues too much as they take on Kerala in the Group ‘C’ match from Thursday. As for the visiting team, which has a new captain (Sanju V. Samson) and a new coach (P. Balachandran), it is banking on youth to deliver, having decided to let go both its professional players from the last season.
“Five of our players are from the Under-23 team who played under me last year,” Balachandran, who is returning to the job after 10 years, told The Hindu . “We have come here after some very fruitful practice sessions.”
He said the wicket looked as if it would assist the seamers a bit. “There is some grass on the pitch,” he said. “We are considering the option to go with three pace bowlers.”
Sandeep Warrier, N. Niyas, M.D. Nitheesh and the uncapped C.O.T. Ahmed Farzeen, are the pace-bowling options for Kerala. For spin, there are S. Monish, Akshay Chandran and the new kid Fabid Farooque Ahmed.
Sanju will lead the Kerala batting, besides keeping the wicket. The middle order will further be bolstered by the likes of Sachin Baby and Rohan Prem.
The host’s batting will be spearheaded by skipper Mithun Manhas, who has played most of his 147 First Class games for Delhi. Another wicket Kerala’s bowlers would be happy to get cheaply will be that of Ian Dev Singh, who had scored 618 runs last season.
For wickets, Jammu would be looking up to spinners Parveez Rasool and Waseem Raza and seamer Ram Dayal.
The teams (from):
Kerala: Sanju V. Samson (captain), V.A. Jagadeesh, Akshay Kodoth, Rohan Prem, Sachin Baby, Raiphi Vincent Gomez, S. Monish, Fabid Farooque Ahmed, Sandeep Warrier, C.O.T. Ahmed Farzeen, M.D. Nitheesh, N. Niyas, Robert Fernandez, Nikhilesh Surendran and Akshay Chandran.
Jammu & Kashmir: Mithun Manhas (captain), Ian Dev Singh, Parveez Rasool, Shubham Khajuria, Bandeep singh, Adil Reshi, Ram Dayal, Umar Nazir, Paras Sharma, Amir Sofi, Rohit Sharma, Zahoor Sofi, Deepak Singh Manhas, Waseem Raza, Samad Bhat and Mudasir Gojri.
