‘UP will miss the services of Chawla’

Uttar Pradesh Ranji team's chief coach Venkatesh Prasad feels that team will be missing the services of leg-spinner Piyush Chawla in their match against Haryana.

After a practice session in the afternoon at the match venue— Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta Stadium here, Venkatesh Prasad could be seen telling the players to be present for the "bowlers meeting which would take place just 15 minutes after the team bus reaches the hotel" where they are staying. Chawla will not be playing in the UP vs Haryana match commencing from December 15 as he is playing for Team India in the ongoing Nagpur Test. When asked whether the host team would be missing the services of the leggie, Venky minced no words in saying, "Of course. Chawla has been our strength. He brings with him his batting as well. He has been performing well. Even when such a player gives away the runs, he makes it up through his batting." To fill in the place of Piyush Chawla, left-arm-spinners Praveen Gupta or Ali Murtaza or both could be included in the team for the Lucknow match, he disclosed.

Talking about the upcoming clash against Haryana, Venkatesh said, "We will be playing positive cricket and are looking forward to winning the match. Because we are at the top of the group does not mean that we will be taking the match lightly.The group is still pretty wide open. Haryana is a good side. I do not know why they are not doing well." Talking about the team's bowling, Venkatesh said, "There is scope of improvement in bowling. In fact, there is always a scope of improvement in every department. The fast bowlers have been doing well. Bhuvneshwar, Imtiyaz Ahmed and Ankit Rajpoot have all been contributing.

Bhuvneshwar has been selected in the Indian T20 side but I feel that he is more suited for Test match bowling. However, by saying this I do not mean that he is not suited for other formats of the game," he explained.

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