A preview of the teams competing in the Ranji Trophy 2015-16
ESPNcricinfo staff30-Sep-2015OdishaNatraj Behera will be a key player for Odisha as they look to make strides in their batting•K Sivaraman
Where they finished last season
Fifth in Group B, with three wins, three losses and two draws.Big picture
Since their promotion in 2006-07, Odisha have won only nine out of 57 matches, and have been stuck in the middle of the table very often.They aren’t without strengths though. Given helpful conditions – Lahli 2014, when they trounced hosts Haryana, or Mohali 2015, when they humbled Punjab, or at home in Cuttack last season, where they kicked Saurashtra down to Group C – Odisha’s seam attack can trip anyone up. They were the last team to beat back-to-back champions Karnataka in November 2012.The other side of that equation, batting, has been the problem. Odisha do not have a single batsman averaging 40 in the squad. They had only one 300-plus total last season. Admittedly a lot of their games are played in seamer-friendly conditions because their bowlers are the better asset, but they have to cultivate batsmen equally capable to progress.Their 2015-16 dance card looks pretty intimidating – open against Vidarbha, face former champions in Maharashtra and Delhi, not to mention current champions Karnataka. That’s just in the first five matches. Better put their best foot forward.Players to watch
Basant Mohanty and Deepak Behera do a lot of legwork for Odisha, literally. The new-ball pair have played 28 matches together so far and their bounty accounts for over half the team’s wickets since 2011 – 187 out of 349. Neither man is express quick, but both compensate with accuracy and the ability to move the ball. Throw in some seaming conditions and just watch them go.Odisha, however, do that far too often. First-class matches are won by bowlers, but their threat goes up the larger the total they are defending. Natraj Behera, with seven centuries in 69 innings including a highest score of 209, will be looked at for that responsibility. He is 27 now, about the age when batsmen know their game best.Coaching staff
Debasis Mohanty (head coach), Subhasis Bhuyan (manager), Rashmi Ranjan Parida (batting coach), Subhakant Sahoo (Physio), Manoj Biswal (Trainer)Preparation
Many of the first-choice Odisha picks had been in action in the KSCA tournament in July in Bangalore, Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai in August and the Bhausaheb Nimbalkar trophy in Pune in September.Team news
It would seem that Odisha want to invest in a new stock of players. Seven of the 15 in the squad have not touched double-digit first-class match experience. The oldest among them is 28-year old left-arm spinner Jayanta Behera and the youngest a 15-year old wicketkeeper Rajesh Dhupar, who began playing U-19 cricket for his state at 13 and three weeks ago struck 156 against Tripura U-19 in the Dhruv Pandove Trophy. The captaincy though has been given back to the experienced Biplab Samantray from Abhilash Mallick.Squad
Biplab Samantray (capt), Govinda Podder (vc), Basant Mohanty, Deepak Behera, Jayanta Behera, Amit Das, Pratik Das, Rajesh Dhupar (wk), Abhilash Mallick, Natraj Behera, Suryakant Pradhan, Roshan Kumar Rao (wk), Girjia Rout, Anurag Sarangi, Alok Chandra SahooAndhraAndhra’s D Siva Kumar will have the added responsibility of spearheading the bowling•BCCI
Where they finished last season
Quarter-finals, after finishing second in Group C.Big picture
Andhra’s journey to the quarter-finals last year was largely on account of their unblemished record at home. They won each of their four home games, securing an innings-win in their last match against Goa to rack up seven points, and eventually edged out Himachal Pradesh in the knockout race.The team is looking to replicate a similar formula this season. With matches being played at the same venues as last year – Vizianagaram and Ongole – they are banking heavily on the seam-friendly conditions there.”Our strength is fast-bowling,” MSK Prasad, director (cricket operations), Andhra Cricket Association, told ESPNcricinfo. “If we can get through and get a good beginning, and then if we can pull three outrights out of four games we play, I think we can put us through to the next level.” Prasad said the pitches are likely to have plenty of grass cover, and will be “lively”.They will begin their campaign against Mumbai in Vizianagaram.Players to watch
Duvvarapu Siva Kumar was the third-highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy 2014-15, with 44 scalps from nine games. Besides being expected to reprise his performances from last year on helpful conditions at home, he will also be required to spearhead a young bowling attack.Srikar Bharat’s claim to fame last season was becoming the first wicketkeeper to score a triple-hundred in the Ranji Trophy. Prasad said his Bharat’s keeping had improved over the last few years, but he needs to be more consistent.Coaching staff
Mukund Parmar (head coach), Amit Pathak (assistant coach), Mahesh Bharun (physio), Rakesh Gohil (trainer).Preparations
Andhra have had a fairly good build-up to the Ranji Trophy, making it to the semi-finals in the Buchi Babu tournament where they lost to eventual champions Mumbai. “We completed all our selection matches [in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram] in the summer itself,” Prasad said. “From there, we played some matches against Services, Baroda, and we also played the Buchi Babu and KSCA. We did extremely well in Buchi Babu. KSCA [invitation tournament]…we didn’t do well, we sent a majority of the youngsters.”Team news
Andhra have drafted three youngsters into their side: batsman N Jyoti Saikrishna, seamer KV Sasikanth and offspinner H Shivraj. “All these players have done well. Jyoti Saikrishna did extremely well and Sasikanth is a bowler who has performed very well at the Under-23 level,” Prasad said. Shivraj, he said, was promoted because other offspinners like GVS Prasad had problems with their action. Prasad said everybody was fit.In their own words
“We had built the foundation last year after not doing well in a few years before that. We had lots of low-scoring games, and held our nerve and played really well under pressure. It will help us if some teams take us lightly.”
Squad (for the first three matches)
Mohammad Kaif (capt), DB Prasanth Kumar (vice-capt), Srikar Bharat (wk), MUB Sriram, AG Pradeep, B Sumanth, Ricky Bhui, Aswin Hebbar, N Jyoti Saikrishna, D Siva Kumar, P Vijay Kumar, Ch Stephen, B Ayyappa, KV Sasikanth, H Shivraj, B Sudhakar, K Harish. Standby: K Srikanth, G Chiranjeevi, T Vamsikrishna (wk), C Sneha Kishore, D Naren Reddy