Minefield awaits Delhi,UP

If the pitch on which Delhi and Uttar Pradesh will meet in their Ranji encounter from Tuesday seems under-prepared,the outfield is worse,hard on knees and bumpy at every point,pointing a serious finger at the BCCI officials who inspected and deemed the venue fit for a first-class game.

This ground has hosted only one match previous to this — in 2007 against Baroda,which UP lost — and Mohammad Kaif and his team mates didn’t have too much to say about the venue,with most queries on the subject met with incoherent muttering.

Uncertain combinations

Neither Uttar Pradesh nor Delhi were sure about what combinations to play on this dry surface,though their bowling attacks are pretty settled. RP Singh,Praveen Kumar,Sudeep Tyagi and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar will bend their backs for the hosts,with leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for company. Delhi will be playing with three seamers — Pradeep Sangwan,Sumit Narwal and Parvinder Awana,while leggie Abhishek Sharma,a Monday morning replacement for the still-injured Chetnya Nanda,being the sole spinner in the ranks.

There’s plenty of star batting power on the team sheets — with Suresh Raina,Mohammad Kaif and Tanmay Srivastava vying for honours with Aakash Chopra,Virat Kohli,Shikhar Dhawan and Mithun Manhas — but their techniques will be severely tested on a surface where the ball could take off from anywhere and squat at will.

Under the circumstances,the toss will be vital,with the team batting fourth almost certain to struggle,in what is expected to be a low-scoring game almost sure to see a result.