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Champs heading for big fight

The coach is busy training players for Mission Hyderabad, says J.R. Shridharan

RARING TO GO Players with their coach PHOTO: RAJU. V

Former Andhra cricket captain V.Vijayasaradhy, presently the coach of the Andhra Cricket Association's u-15 team is on cloud nine.

Reason- he has lived up to the expectations of the ACA administrators by marshalling the young team admirably in the South Zone championships at Goa. Andhra topped the table by defeating all other teams - Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and Goa for the first time in the history of ACA.

Vijayasaradhy is in Vijayawada conducting a camp for the buoyed up team, which will be heading for Hyderabad to participate in the knockout leg.

The captain's urge to perform at the optimum level among players helped the team's fortunes. "Majority of the players played for the ACA u-13 team and they gel well together. My job was fine-tuning their grey areas and to instil confidence in them. After all, cricket is a mind game." However, Vijay takes pride in his star performer - skipper Mohammad Basha, an off-spinner, who took as many as 61 wickets in his five outings. " He is exceptional and can literally wreck the rival batting. If he finds his line and rhythm, he would be unstoppable," feels the coach.

Apart from Basha, Vijay also rates highly players like Chaya Prasad, an attractive batsman and Narendra, an all rounder. "In fact the innings played by Prasad against Karnataka was the turning point for our triumph. He played splendidly to enable Andhra carve out an outright victory." Vijay also banks on talented players like left-arm spinner-cum-batsman Prithvi of Vijayawada and Vamsi of Ongole to deliver the goods.

Emphasizing the significance of the camp, he says the knockout segment will not be that easy as talented sides such as Punjab, Mumbai, Bengal will vie for honours. "My mantra to the players is to play their natural game. The batsmen should master the art of staying in the middle for longer duration and the bowlers should consistently bowl on the accurate line and length."

The two-hour long session at Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium witnessed Vijay correcting the strokes of the batsmen, who played across and who also exhibited poor footwork.

" They are young but willing to learn. If they stick to their basics, Andhra can create history at Hyderabad," the coach signs off with an air of optimism.

Incidentally, Andhra will be playing the winner of Gujarat and Haryana in the quarterfinals, from December 15 to 17. Andhra, by virtue of topping the SZ table, is qualified directly for the quarterfinals.

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