Uphill task for Goa against Vidarbha in Ranji tie

Margao, Nov 30 (UNI) Vidarbha will look for a win against Goa in the second four-day Ranji plate group match to be played at MCC ground margao in south Goa from tomorrow.

Vidarbha coach Pravin Inganikar was confident that his team would do well. ''We aim for full points against Goa to stay in the race and except Akshay Wakrhe, who is a debut against Kerala in the last match, all other players are good and experienced,'' he said.

He also said his team is in buoyant mood having gained two points against Kerala in the opening match on the verge of the first inning lead.

Though dependable off spinner preetam Gandhe, will not play tomorrow because of injury, he felt it will not make much difference as ''we have other experienced bowlers in Left- arm spinner Chandrashekhar Atram, Madhusudhan Acharya, off spinner Akshay Wakrhe and Sandeep Singh, they all have performed well in the last match against Kerala.'' The coach claimed that his side was a well-balanced and the players are good in their departments. The talented batsmen are captain Harshal Shitut, wicketkeeper batsman Amit Deshpande, Alind Naidu, Faiz Fazal, Ranjit Paradkar and Samir Khare.

The team had a net practice today at the MCC stadium, the coach was happy with the batting wicket but not satisfied without field and said, ''we will play as per our batting strategy. The final eleven will be selected before the start of the match tomorrow,'' the coach said.

On the other end, Host Goa, who put up a dismissal performance against Assam in the away match in the lung opener, had made three chages in their team against Vidarbha tomorrow, bringing in Sahil Dhuri, Sandesh Pawaskar and Shailesh Miskin. Mandar Phadke and Nikhil Haldipur were dropped on disciplinary ground.

Left arm spinner Shadab Jakati will not play tomorrow as he is nursing his injury.

Except Swapnil Asnodkar, Sagun Kamat and Faizal Shaikh, rest of the players of the host team are inexperienced.

Goa coach Namdev Phadte said there is hope to regain their touch against Vidarbha on home ground but senior players need to perform to their potential.

Following are the teams: Goa: Swapnil Asnodkar (Captain), Sagun Kamat(Vice-captain), Anup Kolamkar, Sahil Dhuri, Rohit Asnodkar, Rupesh Sarvankar, Damodar Redkar (WK), Robin D'Souza, Shailesh Miskin, Anil Naik, Faizal Sheikh, Sandesh Pawaskar, Sher Bahadur Yadav, Harshanand Gaokar.

and Coach; Namdev Phadte.

Vidarbha: Harshal Shitut (captain), Amit Despandhe (WK), Faiz Fazal, Alind Naidu, Ranjit Paradkar, Samir Khare, Chandrashekar Atram, Madhusudhan Acharya, Sandeep Singh, Akshay Wakrhe, Owamir Afzal, Shalab Srivastav, Sunjog Dinkar.

Coach; Praveen Inganikar, Manager: Viraj Markand.

UNI SRN PM AY KN1712