Hyderabad's rising stars

HYDERABAD: The city has been gifted with two new and young cricketers who proved their mettle in the on-going Ranji Trophy.B Sandeep, 19, and G Hanuman Vihari, 17, made their entry at a time when Hyderabad cricket was at the crossroads with the team tumbling down to a record low score of 21. In their first Ranji Trophy match against Jharkhand in Ranchi, the duo impressed everyone with their game, with the former even slamming a century, making Sandeep the fourth Hyderabadi cricketer to notch up a debut century. Always a busy batsman, Sandeep is like Australian Micheal Hussey of the Hyderabad team.“He is solid and plays on the merit of the ball. The important thing is that he plays close to the body and hits through the line,’’ said MV Sridhar, the new coach of Hyderabad team.Young Sandeep got attracted to the game when he was in class four. “My father wanted me to be a cricketer, and encouraged me throughout,’’ said Sandeep, who has been a very intense player since a young age. The turning point in his cricketing career came when Vivek Jaisimha, who coached the HCA President’s XI, gave him a chance to bat at the crucial number three spot in the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup tournament.“I perceived that he had some good talent. I liked his attitude of always looking for runs, which made him ideal for third position as a batsman,’’ said Jaisimha.This second year engineering student at Teegarla Krishna Reddy College is sure to go places in the world of cricket.Vihari, a product of gully cricket is a compact right-hand batsman. “My mother always wanted me to play like Sachin,’’ said Vihari. He showed promising performance in various tournaments including under-14, under-16 cricket, under-19 and under-22. “He plays on-drive very elegantly, typical Hyderabadi style,’’ opined A Nanda Kishore, former Ranji captain. According to BCCI coach R Sridhar, who has coached Vihari,“He has a wide range of strokes and bats aggressively. His stint at NCA academy in Bangalore has added up to making him a mature cricketer that he is today,’’ said Sridhar.With all these qualities, the two rising cricketers sure seem to be the assets of Hyderabad cricket team.