CHENNAI: The win by an innings and 40 runs against Tripura in their first match must have boosted the confidence of Hyderabad. The two-time winners, led by India pacer Mohammed Siraj, have struggled to get an outright win at home since they were promoted to the Elite Group in 2024. Their next match against neighbours Andhra starting in Mulapadu on Sunday, however, could pose a tough challenge. The Andhra Ranji team, coached by New Zealander Gary Stead, put up a spirited fight against last season’s runners-up Karnataka to take a first innings lead.
Ahead of the second Group B match, Hyderabad’s vice captain and left-arm medium pacer CV Milind stressed on the importance of taking the match ‘session by session.’ They are expected to play on a similar wicket that saw spinners from both Karnataka and Andhra thrive. “The pitch (in Mulapadu) should probably behave in a similar fashion,” he told this daily on Saturday.
The visitors, who will remain unchanged, hope to build on their momentum from their big win. Milind said that they are up for the challenge. “Andhra are definitely a quality side. They qualified for quarterfinals last season. But that doesn't change our plan or our approach. We'll go batter by batter, session by session. The opponents may change but the plan remains the same,” he explained.
One of the aspects that Milind, in his capacity as vice captain, wanted to see improvement in his team is discipline. “Something of that significance will take some time, because it’s been only one game. We are just tightening up a few things, be it the clothing and the one per cent things which we generally ignore. It is also about focusing at the right moment and like being focused for a longer period of time. That's what we're trying to do as a team as of now,” he explained.
Milind said they are not getting carried away by the win they registered against Tripura: “We are looking match by match in which each game is important to us. It's a long tournament. We are looking to win all the seven league matches. But we'll take it one game at a time. We got a good win in the first game, but that is in the past and now we are just focusing on the game tomorrow (Sunday),” he said.