Vijay Hazare Trophy: Andhra test beckons Saurashtra

NEW DELHI: Cheteshwar Pujara’s chance of playing shorter version of the game for the country is absolutely zilch. He is an established Test cricketer with a prospect of playing more than 100 games for India but for the ODIs and T20Is, he is not in the scheme of things. His Saurashtra teammate Ravindra Jadeja, the one who has played more than 136 ODIs, also faces an uncertain future in the shorter version of the game.


But this hasn’t dampened the spirits of both Pujara and Jadeja. As they prepare to take on an in-form Andhra in the second semifinals of the

Vijay Hazare Trophy

at the

Ferozeshah Kotla

on Sunday, Saurashtra will be hoping to see the duo in rollicking form.

With a new role in his life, a proud father Pujara would be hoping to bring in some more luck for Saurashtra, who got a boost after Jadeja walked into the side for the big game. With assurance from his IPL team captain MS Dhoni, who asked him to prepare for a bigger role with the bat this season, Jadeja was seen getting some extra minutes in the nets. With the selectors categorising him as a predictable left-arm slow bowler, this is Jadeja’s best chance to prove himself as a genuine allrounder.

Therefore, scoring runs is the only way to be in the national reckoning and there isn’t a better place to prove your worth in the Indian ODI team than the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Coming to the match, it isn’t about these two individual also. Once hailed as a prodigy, a player like Robin Uthappa would also be hoping to showcase his best along with other team-mates like Samarth Vyas, Avi Barot and right-arm medium pacer Chirag Jani who bagged four wickets in the previous game against Baroda. On that count, Andhra don’t much a point to prove.

With seven unbeaten games in the tournament so far, they are by far the most dangerous side. The fact that Andhra are a real threat hasn’t escaped Saurashtra as well. They do respect their opponents and don’t want to go into the match with a preconceived notion whether to bat first to chase after winning the toss. Ditto for Andhra, they know their strength and don’t make much noise about the stuff they are capable of doing on the field. They just do it and get on with their jobs.

It will also be interesting to see how the Andhra bowlers make use of the Kotla pitch, which would offer a tinge of grass like the first semifinals between Karnataka and Maharashtra. With likes of Siva Kumar raring to go after a match-winning spell against Delhi in the quarterfinal game, there are others like Bandaru Ayyappa and left-arm Bhargav Bhatt who were amongst the wickets.

All eyes will be on Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari as well, who didn’t come out with flying colours in the Delhi match.