Goa to meet Kerala in the Ranji tie tomorrow

Panaji, Dec 16 (UNI) A keen contest is on the cards as Goa clash against Kerala in the four-day Ranji plate group tie to be played at the MCC grounds in south Goa from tomorrow.

Goa have not opened their account yet as they suffered a humiliating defeats in their previous three outings while Kerala have 2 points in their kitty from as many matches.

Kerala coach Parth sarthy Sharma said his is a young team and claimed that his side was well balanced and players were good in their departments. ''The team would go all out to win this match,'' he said.

He said their talented batsmen are Rohan Prem, Vipin Lal, all- rounder Aneesh, and S Suresh.

Goa's batting depends on captain Swapnil Asnodkr, Sagun Kamat, Rohit Asnodkar, Damodar Redkar, all rounder Saurab Bandekar and Robin D'Souza. If they put up a good performance and lay a strong foundation, they would have no difficulty in earning points against Kerala. Their bowling also looks sound with left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati, Robin D'Souza, Saurab Bandekar and Anil Naik.

Goa coach Namdev Phadte said the team, which played against Railways in Delhi in the last match will remain more or less the same, for this match but there will be one change. Anup Kolamkar will play in place of Rupesh Sarvanakar. The match is crucial for both the teams and both need to win this tie, having suffered losses in the previous matches.

The teams: Goa: Swapnil Asnodkar (Captain), Sagun Kamat, Anup Kolamkar, Rohit Asnodkar, Rupesh Sarvankar, Shailesh Miskin, Damodar Redkar(WK), Robin D' Souza, Shadab Jakati, Anil Naik, Saurab Bandekar, Nikhil Haldipur, Sahil Dhuri, Sandesh Pawaskar. Coach: Namdev Phadte.

Kerala: S K Nair (Captain), S Suresh, S. Ramesh, Robert Fernandes, Vipin Lal, Rohan Prem, Raphy Vicent Gomes, Deepak Kalti, Sony C, S Aneesh, Prasanth Chandran, Anil Kumar, Prashant P, V A Jagdish.

UNI SRN WD PM HT1500