Rain played spoilsport on the eve of the first semifinal between Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Air India (Red), forcing the players to have a truncated practice session.
Rain played spoilsport on the eve of the first semifinal between Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Air India (Red), forcing the players to have a truncated practice session on Friday.
Come Saturday, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina will face a sterner test against the ONGC attack which includes Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel and leg-spinner Amit Mishra.
Both batsmen were among runs against India Cements but their job won’t be easy on a wicket where it’s difficult to hit through the line. ONGC have a strong batting line-up too with the Delhi trio of Gautam Gambhir, Mithun Manhas and Virat Kohli manning the middle order.
Gagan Khoda, however, will sit out with a ligament tear. Tanmay Srivastava will replace him. Gambhir and Kohli made half-centuries against MRF and will look to continue their good form. ONGC beat MRF by 71 runs and Munaf, Ishant and spinners Sarandeep Singh and Mishra were among wickets. Their second match against Bharat Petroleum was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
On paper, AI-Red lack experience in the bowling department. Their attack will be spearheaded by 20-year-old Dhawal Kulkarni and 17-year-old Saurabh Netravalkar. Medium pacer Moondeep Mangela, off-spinner Ajit Chandela and left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan need to contribute.
Teams (from):
Air India-Red: Yuvraj Singh, Naman Ojha, Sushant Marathe, Robin Uthappa, Paul Valthaty, Suresh Raina, Ankit Chavan, Siddharth Trivedi, Moondeep Mangela, Dhawal Kulkarni, Irfan Pathan, Rohan Kerkar, Harmeet Singh, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Ajit Chandela, Rohit Prakash, Saurabh Netravalkar, Pritam Gandhe
ONGC: Gautam Gambhir, Sandeep Sharma, Radhey Shyam, Virat Kohli, Mithun Manhas, Ajay Ratra, Amit Mishra, Praveen Gupta, Sarandeep Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, Amit Bandari, Sumit Narwal, Tanmay Srivastava.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}